Can Vocaloids Survive a Zombie Apocalypse?
by HumanAtHeart
Summary: We know what would happen to a sheriff in the event of a zombie apocalypse, but what about anime pop stars? Rated M for occasional intense violence.
1. Chapter 1

By: HumanAtHeart

Chapter One

"Hey Miku! Over here!" Rin called.

Miku smiled and jogged over to the table Rin, Len, and Luka were sitting at outside the ice cream parlor.

"Hi guys. Sorry I got here so late." Miku said

"What happened? Luka asked as she licked her strawberry ice cream cone.

"The traffic was horrible. There must have been some sort of accident; there were cop cars all over the place!"

"Huh, weird" Len said, taking a bite of his banana split. "There wasn't any announcement on the traffic radio"

"Eww! Len!" Rin giggled. "Close your mouth!"

Len opened his mouth wide, showing the girls his combination of half chewed banana, chocolate syrup, and vanilla ice cream. Miku giggled, but Luka and Rin were disgusted.

"Cut that out Len." Luka scolded. "You're such a boy sometimes"

Len closed his mouth and swallowed.

"Maybe I have to be sometimes." He said "I'm with you girls so much"

"Well you…" Rin began.

"Miku!" Someone shouted. "Rin! Len! Luka!"

They turned to see Kaito running down the sidewalk toward that ice cream parlor. His face was bright red, like he'd been running for a long time. His clothes were full of rips and tears. When he came closer, they could see a bright red scratch across his cheek, it was bleeding.

"Kaito!" Luka cried. "What's wrong?"

"No…time.." He puffed with exhaustion. "We need to get moving!"

"What's going on?" Miku asked.

"I'll explain in a minute, but we need to go!"

"I have my car! We can drive"

"We can't. All the roads are blocked! Just follow me!"

He seemed really nervous, and that scared Miku. Kaito was usually fearless. He never got the slightest butterfly when they performed. He would just be calm, while the rest of them twiddled their thumbs and paced. So nobody argued that time; they just ran behind him as he sprinted along the sidewalk.

They dashed through several blocks and into an alleyway, where they all stopped to catch their breath. Rin slumped to the floor.

"What's going on, Kaito? Why are we running? What happened to your face? And your clothes!? And…"

"Rin!" Kaito said. "Calm down. Something really bad is happening. REALLY bad. People are….well…you wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

Just then, a series of loud screams were heard. They peeked into the sunlight to see people running through the car filled street. They were panicking. And they were being chased by…

"It's zombies." Kaito said. "Dead people are up and walking around, trying to eat us."

"WHAT!?" Rin shouted. Len, who was standing right next to her, threw his hand over her mouth and pulled her back into the shadows of the alley.

"RIN? WHAT THE HELL?" He loudly whispered. "We've watched enough zombie movies for you to know that noise ATTRACTS them!"

"Don't yell at her" Luka whispered back "She's panicking! What do you expect?"

"I expect her to have some sense at a time like this! She's fourteen, not nine!"

"Guys! Calm down!" Miku interrupted. " This isn't helping anyone!"

"Miku's right." Kaito agreed "We need to get moving anyway."

The group moved through the alley and up the fire escape of one of the large buildings. The sounds of car horns, screams, and groaning zombies were still behind them.

When they reached the top they found that some of the fire escape had been removed. It almost looked as if someone had ripped the metal stairs right off the wall.

"Great..." Kaito muttered. "Well….give me your foot Rin."

Rin stepped into his cupped hands and he boosted her onto the roof. He repeated the same process with Miku and Luka. Then came Len's turn.

Len stepped into Kaito's hands. Kaito counted to three then gave Len his boost. But when Len was supposed to grab the edge of the roof, he missed his opportunity and fell backward. The guard rail had been removed and he fell right off the edge.

Len screamed. He had flipped over and was about to plummet ten stories down, head first.

But Kaito was fast and grabbed his ankle. Len was left dangling upside down. Kaito started to pull Len up, but he screamed bloody murder as he tried to move him.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked.

"There's a ripped piece of metal stuck in me!" Len screamed. "GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!"

"Quiet down Len!" Kaito snapped. "Calm down and tell me where it is."

"It's sticking right into my back! On the side!"

"Did it go all the way through your torso?"

"No.." Len sniffled. He was crying now.

"Alright Len," Kaito said "I'm gonna pull you forward. The metal should come out. It's gonna hurt, but I need you to be brave"

Len said nothing.

"Okay," Kaito said "One, two, three"

Kaito pulled Len off of the metal. Len screamed louder than a train's breaks when it suddenly breaks. But Kaito pulled him off and up. When Len was safe, Kaito saw the blood soaking the back of his yellow and white t-shirt. Because he had been hanging upside down, the blood had dripped up into his messy yellow hair.

Kaito suddenly realized that the groan of zombies had become at least ten times louder. He turned to see dozens of zombies gathered in the alley. Some were even staggering their way up the fire escape! Len's screaming had attracted them

"Dammit!" Kaito said. Len had passed out in his arms. "Luka!" He shouted "Catch him!"

He tossed Len up and Luka grabbed his arm and pulled him up. She laid him down and returned to the edge to help Kaito up. The zombies were getting closer to him. He jumped and Luka caught his arm. She struggled to pull him up. The zombies were right beneath where he had just been standing.

"Hurry!" He said.

"Miku! Help!" Luka cried!

Miku grabbed Kaito's other arm and helped Luka pull him up and onto the roof just in time.

"Let's go," Kaito said. "We need to get Len inside."

Kaito picked up Len's limp form and they headed into a small structure on the roof.

Inside, they found Gumi waiting. She rushed over to them as soon as they entered.

"You made…" She noticed Len, whose entire backside was now soaked in blood. "Oh god...Meiko! Help! We've got wounded!"

Meiko rushed into the room.

"Oh no! Len!" She took him from Kaito and rushed out of the room. They followed her into what looked like a kitchen. Meiko laid him down on the counter and pulled his t-shirt off, revealing the bloody puncture wound in his back.

"What happened?" Gumi asked.

"There was an accident with the fire escape." Kaito said "Let's just be glad the metal was clean."

"Everyone, get out. I need my space" Meiko commanded.

Nobody hesitated. They all filed into a small space that looked like a living room. In there they found Lily bent over a table covered in various things that didn't look like they went together; canned foods, bottles of water, juice pouches, bags of beef jerky, backpacks, various clothing items, a few fire axes, several first aid kits, and some guns and ammunition. She was scribbling something on a pad of paper. She looked up when they entered.

"Oh! Kaito you found them!" She sounded relieved. Then she looked around. "Who's wounded?"

"Len, the fire escape wasn't exactly safe." Kaito reported.

"We're not using it again then." Lily shook her blonde head. "We don't have enough medical supplies for regular injuries."

Lily looked different. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans instead of her usual outfit and her usually perfect hair was a mess.

"Can somebody PLEASE explain what's going on?" Miku asked "I'm really confused."

"Alright," Kaito said "Now that we're safe."

A confused Miku, a tear-stained Rin, and a sweaty Kaito sat on the small, beat-up, green couch while Gumi and Luka sat on the floor. Lily continued to scribble on her pad of paper.

"Well," Kaito began. "Meiko and I were on our way to the library when we saw some woman being chased by those…..well...…zombies. We raced over to try and help, but they had already…..gotten her. They turned to us and we ran inside the nearest building, which was full of screaming people who were trying to get out. We took the stairs to the roof and found this place. I then went out to get Gumi and Lily, who I remembered would be at the park. Thankfully, the zombies hadn't spread there when I went to get them. I then went to get you guys because I remembered that you would be getting ice cream."

"What happened to your face?" Miku asked.

"Some shattered glass, no big deal"

"What's Lily doing?" Luka asked.

"Taking stock" Kaito responded.

"Well yeah." Lily said, annoyed "I guessed that much, but what of?"

"Various supplies we found throughout the building. Food, water, weapons, that kind of stuff"

"Where did you find guns?" Miku asked.

"Well, those three I found in some guy's apartment; he must have been a hunter." Kaito explained "And those four were in a wrecked police car."

"We got lucky on guns and ammo." Lily said "But we don't have nearly enough food. We're gonna have to send people out to look for supplies soon."

"We can worry about that later." Gumi said. "Right now we should be worried about Len,"

Rin, who hadn't said a word since Len's injury, suddenly burst into tears. Miku grabbed her and cradled her head, like she was a baby. Rin turned and sobbed into Miku's shirt.

"It's okay Rin" Miku kept saying to her. She didn't know what else to say. Rin had always been like her little sister, someone she looked out for. Miku had always been there to help Rin when she hurt herself or got in a fight with Len, but now she felt just as helpless as Rin; there was nothing to do but try to comfort her.

Suddenly, something occurred to Luka.

"What about Gakupo?"

Kaito looked up at her, his eyes full of sudden realization.

"Oh god," He said "I didn't go get him!" He stood up and headed into the entryway. Luka followed him.

"I'll come with you" She said.

"No," Kaito said. "Stay here and help."

"What is there for me to do here?" Luka asked. "I'm no comfort to Rin, I don't know anything about medical stuff, so I can't help Len, and Lily's got inventory all taken care of."

"I can handle it by myself. I don't want you getting hurt" Kaito said firmly.

"What if something happens to you?" Luka asked "I could get help"

"Luka…" Kaito began.

"I'm coming with you, Kaito" she said "I'm not letting you go alone"

Kaito sighed. He knew that this was going nowhere.

"Grab a weapon," He said "You'll need it,"

Luka rushed back into the other room and grabbed a fire axe from Lily. When she returned to the entryway, Kaito had a backpack over his shoulder and a gun in his hand.

"Let's go" He said.

They headed outside and down the stairs. As they walked down, Luka asked Kaito a question.

"Do you know where he was planning to be today?"

"He said something about the coffee shop," Kaito answered. "But he may have moved by now,"

"Do you think he's okay?"

"He's a strong man, Luka. Not to mention that sword he always has with him."

"No kidding. Thankfully he doesn't go to the airport very often"

Kaito laughed a small laugh before regaining his stern demeanor. They flew to the bottom of the stairs and slipped out the front door. The street was deserted, so they openly sprinted in the direction of the coffee shop Gakupo had said he was going to.

About half way there, a man jumped out from an alley and grabbed Luka. She squeaked as he pointed a knife at her head.

"Give me all the supplies you have, or your girlfriend here dies" his voice was lice metal scraping against metal, and his breath smelled like cigarettes. He had the look of a hobo.

Luka struggled, but he had a firm grip on her arms, so she couldn't grab her axe from her belt loop where she'd put it. Kaito couldn't shoot him; he wasn't experienced enough with a gun to shoot and not hit Luka.

Luka cringed as she realized what she had to do. The craned her neck and bit down on the man's arm. He screamed and let go, but not without scratching Luka's temple. Luka pulled out her axe and buried it in the man's head.

"Grab the axe and let's go!" Kaito said. "We need to get moving before he comes back."

Luka pulled the axe out of the man's destroyed skull and ran after Kaito. The street was still deserted, and they hoped it would stay that way.

…

Back at the roof, Gumi was searching the small house for anything they'd missed, Lily had finished taking stock and was putting things away, and Miku was still cradling Rin.

Suddenly, Meiko came out of the kitchen. Miku and Rin stood.

"Is Len going to make it?" Miku asked.

"Hopefully," Meiko said. "If he stays where he is and doesn't do anything stupid, he should be likely to survive,"

"Thank you for helping Len, Meiko" Rin said quietly "You don't know what losing him would be like. It would literally be like I had seen myself die,"

"Well, I cleaned and disinfected the wound, then bandaged it. Thankfully, none of his vital organs were punctured. He lost a lot of blood, but he should be fine if we get some sugar and fluids into him and he doesn't try to go anywhere." Meiko explained.

"Thank god" Miku said, flopping back down on the couch.

"Oh no you don't" Meiko scolded "Nobody's playing the lazy teenager. Not here. You two take Len to the couch and give him some juice and something with sugar. Then I need you, Rin, to keep an eye on him. Miku, you need to come with me to search the building next door for supplies when you get Len to the couch"

"Alright," Miku said, going to the kitchen with Rin to get Len "But you don't have to act like you're the boss" she added under her breath.

…

"Gakupo?" Luka called into the coffee shop.

The shop was a wide open space with circular tables placed in random locations. There were no windows, so Kaito and Luka had no choice but to go inside. There was nobody there; just a bunch of tables and chairs, some overturned, and a long counter in the back.

"Gakupo!" Kaito called "Are you in here?"

There was no response. Luka and Kaito searched the shop but found nothing.

"He isn't here" Kaito said " We need to get moving before someone or something shows up,"

Luka nodded and they headed toward the back door. When they were about to exit, they heard a loud yell from behind. Kaito turned just in time to get a face-full of Sake bottle.

"Kaito!" Luka cried. Kaito slumped and fell, his unconscious body landing with a loud thump on the wooden floor. Luka turned to her attacker and was shocked to see a small white haired girl. She had dropped the Sake and was trembling.

"Haku!?" Luka was shocked. Why would Haku have hit Kaito? She was their friend.

Haku fell to her knees and burst into tears.

"What's going on?" Luka asked. "Why did you do that?"

"I...I..." Haku sniffled "I didn't know it was you. I thought it was someone trying to hurt me. I'm really sorry!"

"It's fine," Luka said reassuringly "I'll wake him up in a minute. Have you seen Gakupo? We're looking for him."

"No," Haku looked at her shoes "Sorry, I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Do you know about the…" Luka began.

"Zombies?" Haku finished for her. "Yeah I do. They're scary as hell"

"Well, we have a sort of shelter somewhere. Miku, Gumi, Meiko, Lily, Rin, and Len are all there. We came looking for Gakupo to bring him there." Luka explained.

"Okay!" Haku said "I'd love to come with you guys. I found this place empty and I've been hiding here."

"Great." Luka looked to Kaito "Just give me a sec before we go,"

Luka bent down until her mouth was right next to Kaito's ear. She took a deep breath and yelled.

"WAKE UP!"

Kaito jumped.

"He's awake," Luka said to Haku.

"Wha-" Kaito shook his shaggy, blue-haired head. "What hit me?"

"Sake," Luka said.

Kaito turned to see Haku trembling behind Luka.

"Oh,"

"Let's get moving sleepy head," Luka said "We need to find Gakupo,"

"Gah, my head" Kaito shook his head again and stood up. "Who knew Sake bottles were so heavy?"

"Who cares? Let's get moving, he couldn't have made it too far. We should check the surrounding buildings."

"Alright…" Kaito rubbed his temple "Ow! Geez, I guess alcohol is bad for your head in more ways than one."

"Oh stop being a baby and let's go"

…

Len's large blue eyes fluttered open. He looked up to see Rin opening a can of something. He couldn't see what it was; everything was too blurry.

"What's that?" He was surprised by how raspy his voice sounded.

Rin turned around, her face surprised.

"Len! You're awake!" she cried.

"Yeah," He tried to sit up, but was too weak to even prop himself up.

"Oh Len stop!" Rin commanded. "Meiko said you shouldn't be trying to move around, you could only get hurt worse."

"Alright, alright!" He said "Sheesh. Can you at least prop me up?"

Rin grabbed a sofa cushion and used it to support Len's back. She turned around and shoved a spoonful of something at his mouth.

"Eat," she said "You're blood sugar's low"

Len obeyed, finding that it was sweetened peaches. He smiled and licked his lips. He liked peaches.

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

"Like I got run over by a bus," He said "Minus the broken bones that is"

"Specific," She said, feeding him another spoonful "Is the loss of blood affecting you?"

"Well, everything's all blurry. I also feel really weak. Like, too weak to lift my arm weak. Not to mention my head hurts like it exploded from the inside." Len explained.

"How blurry?" Rin asked "Can you read the label on this can?"

Len squinted at the bold red print on the can, but it didn't look like any more than a blur of red on top of a blur of yellow.

"No," he said.

"You need more rest," Rin said as she shoved another spoonful of peaches into his mouth and closed the can. "We need to save this anyway,"

Len complained that he wanted more, but Rin just continued to tell him to go back to sleep. Eventually he gave up on his quest for canned peaches and closed his eyes. Not a minute later he was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"He's not here," Kaito said "Let's face it, he's nowhere near here"

They had been searching the buildings surrounding the coffee shop for the last hour, and still Gakupo was nowhere to be found.

"He could be anywhere by now" Kaito was shoving the facts at Luka, who was reluctant to leave Gakupo behind. "He had plenty of time to move while we were scurrying around looking for him. There's no way to know where he is."

"We can't just leave him behind like that!" Luka protested "What kind of friends does that make us?"

"We're low on food and have enough mouths to feed already," Kaito said "You have to face it Luka, finding him will take days, and every day we spend looking for him in a place he's nowhere near, he'll get farther away. We need to get back before more zombies show up"

Haku had been silent throughout this whole argument. She agreed with Kaito, but was scared of getting on Luka's bad side. Haku was easily frightened, and anyone raising their voice even slightly scared her out of her wits, especially in a place where noise attracted flesh-eating undead corpses.

Luka said "Can't we just look around a bit more? I'm sure…"

Kaito grabbed Luka by her collar and pulled her close, so close that their noses were scrunched together. Luka could smell his lunch on the surface of his breath.

"Listen to me" his voice was a whisper of the most menacing kind "We aren't going to find Gakupo. It doesn't matter; he can handle himself. We need to get Haku back to the house; she isn't exactly stable. I think she may be slightly drunk, and that's why she's crying so much. Gakupo doesn't matter right now. We need to protect the people we already have with us. We don't even know if he's…" Kaito's voice trailed off. "…alive. And our search is hopeless if we're looking for a dead man. Look at it this way. If he still has his sword, he'll be fine. But if he lost it, he'll be dead by now. Now stop arguing with me and let's go,"

Kaito pulled his face away from Luka's and marched toward the street.

"Dumb, heartless, little jerk" Luka muttered.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Kaito roared, spinning around like a tornado to face Luka. "Are you calling me heartless? A jerk? Are you freaking joking? I'm leaving one of my best friends out there for dead in order to save you people! If I was heartless I would have just let you and Miku and Rin and Len all die at the ice cream parlor! But no! I went out there and risked my neck for you! So don't you call me any of those things, Luka!"

"KAITO STOP!" Haku yelled at the top of hop her lungs. Kaito and Luka turned to look at her. "Stop yelling! I don't like it when people yell. And out here it attracts those….things. So cut it out!"

"Stop yelling, Haku" Luka said gently "I know you don't like shouting, but that doesn't mean more shouting will stop it. You need to calm down."

Haku suddenly burst into tears again and sat down on the sidewalk. She cried for a few seconds before she started hiccupping and sniffling.

"It's like taking care of a child," Kaito muttered.

"She's drunk," Luka pointed it out "You said it yourself. What control does she have?"

"Haku," Kaito said. Haku hiccupped and looked up at him, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "Stop this. We need to get moving, and you aren't helping us."

"Sorry," Haku mumbled running her hand through her messy white hair "I guess I've just had a little too much."

"Let's just go before we're caught." Kaito said

They set off down the side of the still deserted street, not saying another word to each other. When they reached the building they were staying on top of, they headed in the front door.

Suddenly a zombie leaped out and grabbed Haku. She screamed bloody murder and tried to punch it away, but it was much stronger than she was and easily overpowered her.

Luka acted quickly. Pulling out her axe, she raced at the zombie and swung it like a madwoman. Kaito fumbled for his gun, and after a few seconds of hopeless axe beating, he shot it right in the temple.

Haku fell to the floor and curled up in a ball, whining about how the zombie had been violating her bubble.

"Crazy," Luka muttered.

Kaito bent down and grabbed Haku and pulled her face up so that she was looking at him.

"What the hell Kaito?" Luka cried. "What are you…"

"Are you bit?" He said, ignoring Luka. Haku just gave him a glazed over stare, her eyes unfocused. "HEY!" he shook Haku hard "I asked you a question!" But Haku still didn't respond "HAKU!" Kaito struck her across her cheek, leaving a bright red mark. "ARE YOU BIT?"

When Haku still didn't respond, Kaito began roughly searching her arms and legs for any signs of a bite. When he found nothing, he pulled her shirt off.

"KAITO!" Luka cried "WHAT THE HE-"

"SHUT UP LUKA!" He shouted "This is serious! She's wearing a bra anyways."

Kaito checked the front side of her torso, then flipped her over to check her back.

And sure enough, there was a bloody red bite right around the same spot where Len had been wounded. Kaito picked her up and carried her over to a large trash can, dumping her inside. He pointed his gun at her head.

"KAITO! WHAT ARE YOU…?"

Kaito turned just in time to see Miku and Meiko come running toward them holding bags heavy with supplies.

"What's going on?" Meiko asked. "Kaito why are you shooting Haku?"

"Where did you find her?" Miku asked.

"She's been bitten," Kaito said darkly "If we keep her around, she'll turn into a zombie. She's gonna die anyways now. I'm not taking any chances."

Before Meiko or Miku could say anything, Kaito fired, sending a bullet straight into Haku's skull. He then closed the lid of the garbage can and turned it on its side. He kicked it really hard and it started rolling down the street.

"It's so they don't find her and think there's more food near," Kaito said without even turning around. "I have to take every precaution to make sure we stay alive."

Kaito turned and headed into the building without another word.

Miku and Meiko looked at Luka, who shook her head and followed Kaito.

…

Gumi was sitting in front of the roof house with a rifle, prepared to shoot any intruders. When she saw Kaito through the scope, she jumped up and flew over to him.

"You're back!" She exclaimed, stopping in front of him. She expected to hear all about what had happened, who they'd seen, if they'd found Gakupo, or at least a pleasant "hello".

But Kaito walked right around her, acting as if she were just another object in his way. That was how he'd been treating everyone lately. He stormed right into the house and closed the door behind him.

A minute later, Miku, Meiko, and Luka came up. Gumi ran up to them, hoping that they would be kinder than Kaito.

"Hi guys!" She said "Luka, did you guys find him?"

"No," Luka shook her head. She was quiet and was twirling a strand of her long pink hair in between her fingers. That was a motion everyone had learned to recognize in their years of working alongside Luka.

"What happened?" Gumi asked "What aren't you telling me?"

Luka glanced at Miku and Meiko, who both nodded back; an unspoken communication meaning "Just tell her".

"Gumi, we found Haku," Luka explained "But, she was bitten, so Kaito had to shoot her."

Gumi didn't gasp. She didn't say something sympathetic or shocked. She didn't widen her eyes or drop her jaw. She just stood there, a saddened expression spreading over her face. She looked at her shoes, then back up at Luka. She nodded and turned around to go back to her post.

Miku and Meiko went straight into the house to give the supplies to Lily, but Luka hung back, looking at Gumi. Her usual peppiness had been replaced with a sort of melancholy silence. It was like someone else completely. Luka sat down next to her and stroked her green curls. She'd always liked Gumi's hair. It wasn't too long, but not as short as Rin's bob. It was the beautiful color of grass in the summertime and it curled up in perfect ringlets on some days and flipped back in little points on others, making her look like a Christmas tree.

She also had the most beautiful shade of green eyes any girl could want. They were rather large, and would be the envy of any ordinary girl.

"Was it hard?" Gumi asked, interrupting Luka's thoughts "Watching Kaito shoot Haku I mean."

"Not really hard," Luka said "That's not really the word to describe it. It was more like…pulling out a splinter, you know? I didn't want her to die, but I knew she was bitten and that she was going to turn. So I had to let him shoot her." Luka sat there for a moment, thinking it over. "Painful I guess, but not hard."

"Oh," Gumi mumbled. "Well, we should get inside. The sun's going down."

"Right," Luka said. The twosome stood up and headed inside.

…

Rin had been placing a wet cloth on Len's fore head when she heard the door swing open and slam closed.

"Meiko?" She called. "Is that you?"

"No," Kaito's voice answered.

"Oh," Rin was disappointed. She needed Meiko. Len's forehead had been strangely hot since he had gone back to sleep, and she had been doing whatever she could to cool him down. He also kept mumbling something in his sleep about an itch and then he would reach for his wound and try to scratch it before Rin pulled him away.

She had been changing the wet cloth every few minutes because his fever was so high he was heating them up like a stove top.

When Rin heard the door open and close a second time, she heard two sets of footsteps instead of one. She knew it was Miku and Meiko.

"Meiko?" Rin called "I need you!"  
"Just a second," Meiko called back. "We found a lot of supplies; just let us get these to Lily,"

Rin was normally very patient, but with Len in the state that he was, and she not knowing what was wrong with him other than the hole in his back, she was freaking out more every second she had to wait for Meiko.

When Meiko finally came into the room, Rin explained everything that had happened since she left. When she mentioned the fever, Meiko's brown eyes widened and her complexion turned white.

"Oh God," she said when Rin finished talking. "I think the wound may have made his immune system vulnerable by creating an open pathway for bacteria to enter. And considering that we aren't exactly in the most sanitary conditions, this shouldn't be a surprise. He may have gotten very sick from an infection in the wound, especially one so close to his internal organs. This could end badly."

"No!" Rin cried. "I thought he was going to be okay!"

"So did I," Meiko said "I'm astonished that the infection spread so fast. I've never seen anything like that. Usually it takes at least twenty four hours, and often longer."

"Could it have something to do with it being so close to his vital organs?" Rin suggested.

"Possibly," Meiko said "But we need to figure out what it is before I administer any antibiotics. We don't want to make him worse."

"Oh no," Rin moaned. "And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse."

"Oh trust me Rin," Meiko said "This could be much worse."

Just then, they heard the sound of the door slowly creaking open and closed. A pair of light footsteps and a pair of heavy booted footsteps approached the living room. When the owners of the footsteps stepped into the room, they revealed themselves to be Gumi and Luka.

"Rin," Luka said "I need to tell you something,"

Rin nodded and followed Luka into a small study that had become the room where most of the supplies were stored. Luka closed the door and looked at Rin.

"Listen Rin," Luka began "I'm about to tell you something you might not like to hear. Make sure you're ready for it,"

Rin wasn't ready for it, not by a long shot. She'd spent most of her day fretting and crying over Len. And now she had just found out that he had some mystery virus that was spreading through his body like a wildfire, making him incredibly weak, horribly hot, nearly blind, and now it seemed he was unable to actually wake up. But she nodded anyway.

"Well, we didn't find Gakupo. We looked all over the area and just couldn't find him. But we did find Haku. She was in one of her depressed phases and was slightly drunk. We tried to bring her back here, but she was attacked by a zombie. She was bitten, and Kaito had to…"

Rin was staring at her, waiting for the inevitable end of the statement. She know what was coming, but when she saw that Luka didn't want to say it, she did.

"Kill her,"

"Yeah,"

"Is that everything?" Rin's voice was monotone.

"Yeah,"

"Alright," Rin walked out of the study and back to Meiko and Len.

…

"How many cans is that?" Lily asked.

Miku was helping Lily take stock of everything she and Meiko had found in the neighboring apartment building earlier. It wasn't exactly fun, but at least it was a job that got Miku away from all the drama. Here there was no shooting drunk girls with zombie bites, or watching horribly injured boys turn ill. Just her and Lily sorting through cans of food, extra clothes, bottles of water and Gatorade, and various items that could be used as weapons.

"In general? Or just of tuna?" Miku asked.

"Just of tuna, I want to organize them by food so we can make sure we get the right nutrients at the right times." Lily explained.

"Makes sense," Miku said looking over the cans of tuna fish "Nine I think."

"That would be a lot," Lily said "If there weren't so many of us.

"We need to ration the food as well as we can until we can find some sort of a steady food source." Lily continued "If we ate full meals, we wouldn't even have enough food for the next week."

"It's only been a day Lily," Miku pointed out "Why are we already getting so prepared? I mean, it's just more work for everyone."

"More work means more food to go around," Lily said, not looking up from the few boxes of crackers they'd found and she was taking stock of. "Are more people fed means fewer fights, which will make everyone happy"

"Are we going to eat any of it today?" Miku asked "It's already dark outside,"

"That I doubt," Lily said "We can eat in the morning, when we need the strength more,"

Miku groaned; she hadn't eaten since breakfast. There hadn't even been any time for her to get ice cream earlier. She was starving.

"Can't I even have a granola bar?"

"No, every bit of food needs to be saved,"

"Half a granola bar?"

"No"

"A quarter?"

"Miku, stop" Lily sighed "If you're really hungry, you can open a can of beans. We have plant of them"

"Can I cook them?"

"They come cooked in the can Miku"

"Well can I heat them up?"

"We don't have any electricity in here, but there are oil lanterns that Gumi lit with her lighter,"

"Why does she have a lighter?"

"Don't know, don't care," Lily shrugged "As long as we have light."

"Ugh, fine I'll eat the cold beans"

Miku grabbed one of the many cans of beans, a can opener, and a spoon. She went into the kitchen to eat her snack, where she found Kaito playing solitaire with a deck of cards he'd found.

"Playing the card game for loners?" Miku asked, taking a bite of cold beans. They were awful, but she was so hungry she didn't care.

"It's not like I have anyone to play with," he responded, not looking up from his game.

Miku sighed with relief. So he'd cooled off. Good. He had really been starting to scare her with his new attitude. His determination to do whatever it took to keep them alive, even if it meant taking other people's lives.

"I'll play a game with you," Miku said "I just finished taking inventory with Lily so I'm not really doing anything.

"What game?"

Truth be told, Miku wasn't a big player of cards. She didn't know very many games, and the ones she had heard of, she didn't know how to play. All she had ever played before was go fish and solitaire on her computer.

"You can choose," She said smoothly.

"How about a game of B.S.?" he asked.

"I haven't played that one before," Miku said. "Can you explain the rules to me?"

"Sure," he said, smiling "Just to let you know, I'm a master of bluffing,"

So Kaito explained the rules and soon they were in an intense game of B.S. Miku had just caught Kaito's bluff and made him take the whole deck when Gumi came into the room.

"Your watch Kaito," she said yawning.

"Okay," he said, standing up "Where's the rifle?"

"I left it by the door," Gumi informed him "Like you told me to, remember?"

"Oh yeah," he laughed. "Alright,"

Kaito walked toward the exit, but stopped on the way out, turning to look back at Miku.

"This isn't over Hatsune!" he challenged.

Miku laughed and said "I didn't think so. You were losing anyway."

Kaito laughed and left the kitchen. Gumi sat down next to Miku and gave her a funny look.

"What?" Miku asked as she got up to throw away her empty bean can.

"What do you mean 'what?' Miku? It's Kaito! An hour ago he was a big crab because Luka was giving him a hard time about Gakupo and he was upset about killing Haku! But now he's mister cheerful. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Miku laughed "I just played some cards with him!"

"Seriously!" Gumi was bursting with curiosity "What did you do? Or was it something you said? C'mon, you can tell me!"

"I didn't do anything except play B.S." Miku assured her friend.

"Oh please!" Gumi cried "It takes more than a game of bullshit to cheer a guy up!"

"Well, what does?" Miku asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, you sure did it!"

"Maybe he just likes cards?" Miku suggested.

Gumi trashed that suggestion immediately "He plays cards all the time, and he still is his weird, emo self. I mean, he smiles or laughs every once and a while, but he's never THAT happy! And especially after what happened today…"

"Gumi!" Miku interrupted her mid-speech "I swear I don't know why!"

"Maybe…" Gumi thought it over for a moment, then her face lit up as idea struck her like a match. "Maybe he likes you!"

"No way!" Miku blushed "Kaito wouldn't like me! He's older than me! Boys usually go for girls their age or older! Like Meiko"

"Oh please!" Gumi protested "He never got this happy after a game of cards with anyone else! Not Meiko! Just you! He totally likes you!"

"Gumi, you're running away with your imagination. He was probably just happy to have someone to talk to after everyone was mad at him,"

"Oh don't deny it Miku!" Gumi teased.

"What shouldn't she deny?"

Lily had just walked in. She was running a brush through her long, yellow hair.

"Nothing," Miku said "It doesn't matter."

"Alright," Lily yawned wide, displaying the back of her pink throat. "Well, I'm gonna get some rest. You guys should too, you'll need strength to get back to work tomorrow."

"Alright," Gumi said. She got up to follow Lily, but turned around to face Miku "Coming?"

"Sure," Miku nodded "Just let me clean up these cards,"

…

Kaito raised his rifle the second he saw the figure appear on the rooftop. He looked through the scope, but it was still too dark to make out any more than a dark outline. Kaito knew it wasn't one of his own; they were all inside. He placed his finger on the trigger and waited for the figure to move to where he could get a good shot.

Then the second figure appeared. It was much taller and sturdier than the first, which was short and slim. Kaito could hear them talking, but the words were hard to make out.

The first figure suddenly started running toward the house. Kaito got them right in the crosshairs and fired. The bullet hit the figure right in the head and caused them to fly back and off the edge of the building. The second figure yelled and pulled out something long and slender; it was too dark to see what, but Kaito thought it was a weapon of some kind. The figure yelled something like "You killer!" or maybe it was "You killed her!"

But Kaito didn't care, he just sent a second bullet into the attacker's skull.

He jogged over to the figure's body to dispose of it. The person had landed on its front side, and as Kaito jogged closer, he noticed that it was a man with long, purple hair. He slowed to a walk. _Could it be…no. No you can't be sure just by his hair._

Kaito approached the body and looked at its clothing.

A kimono.

_That doesn't mean it's him. Plenty of people wear kimonos. And it's not like he was the only man in the world with long purple hair._

But Kaito was starting to doubt himself. He knew that the only way to find out who it could be was to look at the face, but Kaito was hesitant to. He was afraid of knowing the truth. Had he really killed him?

But curiosity got the better of him, and he flipped the body over. He looked at the face, his expression unchanged. But inside of him, something died.

Kaito lifted the body and lugged it to the edge of the building. He looked into the his eyes one last time.

Then he tossed Gakupo's body off the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Is it clear?"

Kaito turned around. The words had belonged to Luka, who was peeking through the door like an intimidated young child.

"Yeah," Kaito said. Luka! Of all people, she had been the one to see. She was the closest person to Gakupo other than himself.

"I heard gunshots and came to look through the window. I saw you drop that body off the edge,"

So Luka didn't know. It was dark, too dark for her to see who had been gunned down. There was no way for her to know, unless Kaito told her.

That brought up a new problem. Should he tell them who he had shot? Or should he keep it to himself? If he told, they might blame him, despite the darkness. But then again, it would be better for them to know that Gakupo was dead. It would at least let them know that trying to find him again was pointless. But if he told, then they would lose that small bit of hope they had that he was still alive.

And if he told, would they reject him? Send him away because he had accidentally killed their friend? Would he be left to fend for himself out with the zombies?

"Kaito? Earth to Kaito!"

Kaito was shaken out of his thoughts by Luka's shouts. She was standing in front of him now. _When did she leave the house?_

"Oh, sorry Luka" Kaito apologized.

"I asked you if the guy had any good stuff on him. Any food or weapons?"

Kaito shook his head and said "No. But he might have dropped something. Give me a minute to look around,"

"Alright," Luka started to walk back to the house. Kaito sighed and started to look around.

"Oh and Kaito?"

Kaito looked up. Luka had stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Was the person….anyone we'd seen before?"

Kaito bit his lip, he was afraid she would ask that. Now came the decision. Should he tell her and risk her rejecting him? Or not tell and risk them finding out?

"Kaito?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? You keep zoning out like that."

"No. It's fine. And the guy wasn't anyone we knew. Just some stranger,"

Luka stared at him for a second before she nodded and went inside.

Kaito sighed and went over to where Gakupo had dropped his sword that he tried to attack Kaito with. He couldn't see it well, but when he felt along the edges, there was a lot of some sort of crust. Dried blood. It had to be. The only other thing Kaito could think of was dried mud, but it was too light and thin to be that. Kaito picked up the sword and carried it into the house.

…

"Well?" Miku asked "What happened?"

"Somebody showed up on the roof," Luka explained "Kaito gunned them down"

Luka, Miku, Lily, and Gumi had all come running at the sound of gunshots. They all looked relieved that nothing bad had happened.

Except Miku, that is. She looked disappointed.

"That's it?" Miku asked "Nothing more exciting?"

"Damn, Hatsune," Lily shook her head "Are you stupid? You should be relieved that the gunshots weren't at Kaito. Or us for that matter,"

"Whatever," Miku waved Lily's comment away "Let's just…"

Suddenly Kaito came in with a long samurai sword. It was cover with a dark red crust.

"The guy dropped this," Kaito held it up for the girls to see. "His weapon, I guess"

"Looks kind of like Gakupo's sword," Gumi said.

Kaito flinched at the sound of Gakupo's name.

"Duh," Luka said, not noticing Kaito's reaction. "It's a samurai sword. But can we please not talk about Gakupo?"

"Sorry Luka," Gumi mumbled "I know you were good friends with him,"

"Whatever," Luka shook her head, which sent her long pink hair flopping around her shoulders. "I'm tired. We should go to bed."

"Alright," Lily agreed.

Lily, Miku, Gumi, and Luka left for the bedroom it had been decided they would all share. It was the only bedroom in the house, so Len would be on the couch, Rin (who refused to leave his side) would be sleeping on the floor, Meiko would be with in the bedroom, and Kaito would use the chair in the study.

"Meiko," Kaito called into the small house "Your watch"

"Alright," She emerged from the living room, where she'd been trying to match Len's symptoms to any of the diseases in the medical encyclopedia she'd found in the study. "Rin," she called behind her "Remember to change his ice pack every time it melts."

"Okay," Rin called back. From the hoarseness of her voice, it was obvious she'd been crying.

Kaito went into the living room where she saw Len with an ice pack on his head and Rin on the floor, rolling out a blanket Miku and Meiko had found while looting the neighboring building. She didn't even look up when Kaito walked in.

"How is he?" he asked.

"Worse," Rin answered. "His fever keeps rising, and he's been sweating and shaking for hours now. He's also saying things like 'Make the pain stop' and 'kill me before I do it.' What do you think it means?"

"It just sounds like delusional gibberish" Kaito answered "But it may be trauma from the things he saw today,"

"You saw worse,"

"He doesn't know that. At least I wasn't stabbed with a ripped metal pole,"

Rin shrugged and lied down, wrapping herself in the blanket like she was a piece of sushi. Kaito looked at her sadly, knowing that it was a futile attempt of her keeping warm. He yawned and wandered out of the room and over to the study. He sat down in the cushy swivel chair and covered himself with a blanket he'd placed there earlier. It wasn't an ideal sleeping experience, but he was too tired to care. He closed his deep blue eyes and was asleep within seconds.

…

The night want by smoothly, no intruders showed up, and every watch change went as planned. Miku had the last watch, and when dawn came, she was about to fall asleep.

She heard the door open behind her and turned to see Luka holding a mug and a two granola bars. Miku smiled as Luka handed her the mug and one of the bars. Miku recognized the smell immediately, before she even looked down at the dark brown liquid.

"Coffee? How?" she asked.

"We had some coffee beans. I crushed them up and mixed them with water. Then I lit a fire in the fireplace and used it to boil the water. I added a bit of sugar, but it's the closest to coffee we're gonna get."

Miku drank the coffee gratefully, despite its extreme bitterness. She was happy to have something to wake herself up. She tried to savor her granola bar, but as soon as she got a bite, she couldn't stop herself from practically inhaling the rest. Luka sat down next to her and stared off in the direction of the sunrise.

"Thanks," Miku said as Luka nibbled in a bit of her bar. "I needed some energy,"

Luka nodded, but said nothing.

"Wait," a thought struck Miku "Wouldn't smoke from the fireplace let people know where we are?"

"It's a gas fireplace," Lily explained "Doesn't raise smoke, at least not any that's visible."

"Ah," Miku sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "What do you think the purpose of this house was?"

"No idea," Luka shrugged "Maybe some home office space or something."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Lily, Gumi, Meiko, and Rin are inside eating. Kaito's still asleep,"

"Oh," her coffee was gone now. She set the mug down and stood up and stretched.

"Hey Miku?" Luka asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Gakupo's really dead?"

Miku was silent for a moment.

"Do you?"

Luka sighed. "I'm not sure. I don't know what happened to him. He could be alive, but he could also have died somehow. I'd like to believe he's alive, but I also think that, if I knew for sure he was dead, I'd be able to accept it."

"You mean, you could just accept his death and let him go like that? Just…pretend he never existed?"

"Not exactly. I would still feel upset about it, but I wouldn't be completely distraught, you know? In a world like this, you just have to let people go sometimes. You can't let every little death slow you down; you have to just keep moving on."

Miku shrugged "I guess you're right."

Luka nodded, she knew she was.

But Kaito didn't.

…

Len wasn't sure what was happening. Everything around him was constantly changing. One minute he was drowning in a sea of blood, the next he was being torn apart by zombie versions of his friends, the next he was tied to the couch while Rin force fed him peaches from a can until he suffocated, and the next he watched himself swing over the edge of the fire escape and into a sharp, ripped, metal pole over and over again. Then the cycle started again. It was like he was in some strange alternate universe where he was to be eternally tortured.

"Is this hell?" he wondered as he was ripped apart for the ninth time. He watched in horror as a zombie Gumi sank her rotten teeth into his left arm, which wasn't attached to him anymore.

"Not hell," a voice somewhere is his head told him "You're not dead, Len…..yet."

"So I'm dying?" He asked the voice.

"Not necessarily," the voice said "Just undergoing some small improvements"

"What?" Len asked "What are you talking…"

"Don't question it boy," the voice ordered him "Don't fight it either. Just go with it until it's all over."

"But I don't understand…" he began.

"There is nothing to understand Len," the voice assured him "Just go with it,"

…

Rin was flipping through the medical encyclopedia when Len started screaming.

They were high, piercing screams of absolute pain and fear. They were erratically growing louder.

"MEIKO!" Rin shrieked. "MEIKO HELP!"

Len's screeches were enough of a summons without Rin's cries. She threw the ice pack off of his forehead, which was so hot it seemed to burn her hand. His face was almost white, despite his screaming, which would have ordinarily reddened his face. He was writing around on the couch and clawing at the air. His eyeballs were rolled back in his head and he was sweating buckets.

Meiko ripped the blanket off of him and started pulling his clothes off.

"What are you doing?" Rin cried over the screams.

"Cooling him down as much as I can," Meiko shouted back "He's overheating. Hand me the ice pack!"

Rin handed her the first aid kit ice pack, which Meiko pressed to his wrist. She demanded for another, which Rin grabbed out of a portable cooler at the side of the room. She tossed it to Meiko, who placed it behind his neck. This process was repeated until there was an ice pack on both of his wrists, his neck, both ankles, the crook of his right elbow, and his forehead.

Yet the screams continued, his voice growing hoarse. Rin was struggling not to cry, she was so scared. Meiko was beginning to panic. She had done all she could to cool his body down, but his fever was still dangerously high. Not knowing what else to do, she started smacking him. She started with just his cheeks, but on one smack she accidentally hit his temple. The second that connection happened, Len fell silent. He stopped moving around, his eyes rolled back to normal, his eyelids shut, and his breathing became slow and even. Meiko quickly grabbed a thermometer and stuck it under his tongue. When she read it a few seconds later, she saw that his body temperature had dropped at least 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

"What happened?" Rin asked.

"I don't know," Meiko admitted "I just panicked, and when I hit his temple, it triggered some sort of shut down to whatever was just going on."

"I though you said he was overheating?"

"He was, but that wasn't the cause of the meltdown. It was more like an effect of something bigger and more dangerous," Meiko ran a hand through her brown pixie cut. "Whatever it was, it put his body and mind under extreme stress. We need to figure this out, n and do it fast"

…

Everything was dark. The repeating scenes of pain were over, the strange voice was gone, and everything went black. Len didn't know what had happened, but he was thankful for it. He couldn't feel his body at all, but that was a relief after all that pain. It was like someone had hit a light switch in his brain, turning everything off. He was extremely thankful to whoever had done that, and he didn't really care how they had.

…

Except for Rin, Meiko, and Lily (who was on watch at that point in the afternoon) everyone had gathered in the kitchen. They'd heard Len's screams, but didn't want to get in the way of Meiko.

They were all completely silent until the shrieks stopped. Nobody spoke for a moment until Miku broke the silence.

"Do you think he's okay?"

Everyone looked at her. Nobody responded.

"I mean," Miku corrected herself, realizing what she had said "Is he still in a coma? Or was he awake just then?"

"He sounded pretty awake to me," Gumi said.

"I don't know about that," Kaito said "He could have been screaming in his sleep. It's common with some illnesses,"

"That sounds more likely than him waking up," Luka agreed "If he had been awake, wouldn't Meiko and Rin have been trying to calm him down? We would have heard them talking to him, but all we heard was Meiko shouting about icepacks."

"That's true" Gumi said.

Just then, Meiko came into the kitchen. She looked over the crowd of people, not surprised that they were gathered there.

"Len's fine," she said "Still unconscious, but fine"

"What happened?" Miku asked.

"I don't know," she gave Miku a dirty look "What? Do I look like a doctor to you?"

"Hey! Nobody asked you!" Miku protested.

"Uh, yeah." Meiko sneered "You just did. I can't believe I'm in here, having an argument with a stupid kid while we have a boy who almost died in there and a bunch of rotting corpses up and walking around outside! Ugh, I don't need this,"

Meiko marched out of the room.

"What was that?" Miku asked.

"Don't bother her Miku," Luka advised "She's in a mood. We're putting her through a lot by making her our personal doctor, but she's the only one who knows the slightest bit about first-aid here. She's also stressed about Len; he's in a coma, and his entire survival is riding on her figuring out how to fix him. It's a big job for one woman. She may be the oldest one here, but that doesn't make her the best fit for the stress."

Suddenly, Lily burst into the room, rifle in hand. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Zombies," She said "On the roof,"

"What?!" Gumi cried "How did they get up here?"

"The same way we did," Lily answered "They took the stairs"

"Crap," Kaito muttered "Len's screaming must have attracted them,"

"We need to move," Meiko, who'd just come back into the room, cried "Miku, Lily, and Gumi, get the supplies. Kaito, get Len. Rin and I'll get the medical supplies."

Nobody hesitated. Everyone rushed to do what Meiko had told them. Miku, Lily, and Gumi grabbed all the backpacks and filled them with the supplies from the study. They then grabbed all the weapons and ran to make sure everyone was armed. Kaito scooped up Len and rushed to take one of the backpacks from the girls. Meiko and Rin were frantically stuffing medical supplied into the first aid kits and shoving the first aid kits into Meiko's backpack. Gumi ran into the living room and tossed a backpack to Rin, who threw it on her back and ran back into the kitchen with Meiko.

When they all had congregated in the kitchen, Miku was the first to speak.

"How are we getting out?"

"Yesterday I found a weak spot in the concrete floor in the bedroom." Meiko explained "We need to use the axes to break through before they get through the door."

There was a sudden banging on the locked door.

"Doesn't sound like that'll take long!" Gumi cried "Let's go!"

They raced into the bedroom and locked the door. Meiko showed them the weak spot and Luka, Gumi, and Rin began beating away at it with their fire axes. After a few minutes, there was a huge crashing sound.

"They broke through the door!" was Miku's frantic whisper.

"Won't they hear us?" Lily asked.

"Its better we try to get out of here than hide," Kaito pointed out "And if that means making noise, then so be it."

They could hear the zombies in the house now. And it didn't take long before they were up against the door.

"Hurry!" Miku cried.

Rin suddenly broke through. And they began widening the hole.

"We're running out of time!" Meiko cried "It's only wide enough for one person, so we'll go one at a time!"

Rin went first, slipping right through. Then Len was shoved through. Then Gumi, Luka, Lily, Miku. Then Meiko slipped through. She landed on her feet and looked around. They were in a large storage room filled with random things.

Meiko looked up to see Kaito's legs sticking through the hole. He seemed to be having trouble fitting through. Meiko jumped up and grabbed his legs. She pulled down, but couldn't dislodge his broad shouldered body.

"Help me!" She commanded the girls.

The other girls grabbed his legs and (some dangling off the floor) pulled. There was a loud crash.

"Hurry!" Kaito shouted.

The girls gave one hard heave and an enormous crack was heard. Kaito came falling down on top of them. They all stood and regrouped, but Kaito's left arm appeared to be hanging out of his socket.

"Kaito!" Meiko cried "Your shoulder is dislocated!"

"Well?" He cried "Pop it back in or something! I need to get Len out of here!"

Meiko cringed as she strategically grabbed his left arm and, with a loud crunch, popped it back in. Kaito winced but said nothing. He tried to lift Len, but was unable to do so without giving a small shout of pain and dropping him again.

"I'll carry him," Meiko said "You're in no condition to,"

Kaito didn't argue. He just let Meiko pick the sick boy up.

"How do we get out of here?" Gumi asked nervously.

"There's a door over there!" Miku cried.

They rushed over to the door she had pointed out, shoving the various items stored in the room out of the way. Miku tried to turn the doorknob.

"Locked," she reported. "Should we break through?"

"Wait," Lily said, pointing to a small hole in the door "What if there are zombies on the other side? We should look through that hole and check."

Rin, who was the shortest and whose eyes were level with the hole, peeked through. Not even a second had passed when she pulled away.

"They're everywhere," She reported. "There's no way we can go this way,"

"We need to find another way," Miku said.

"Thank you captain obvious," Meiko sneered "But how do we do that?"

Miku let out a noise that can only be described as a growl. If looks could kill, Meiko would've dropped dead.

"We don't have time for arguments," Luka said "We need to move before one of those zombies falls through the hole!"

Suddenly, Luka had an idea. She ran to the wall that she knew was at the edge of the building and started swinging her axe.

"What are you doing? They'll hear us!" Gumi cried.

"No!" Meiko said with realization. "She's getting us a way out! Rin! Gumi! Go help her!"

The three girls were soon all hacking away at the bricks in the wall. It took longer than before, there not being a weak spot.

All of a sudden, Miku shrieked. Everyone turned around to see a zombie that had fallen through the hole above them. Miku leaped into action, pulling out Gakupo's sword and stabbing it right through the zombie's brain. It crumpled to the ground.

"Ugh," Miku said as she pulled the sword out of the zombie's brain. It was covered in a sticky substance "That's just nasty."

Then she gave Meiko a knowing smirk and said "See? I'm not completely useless."

Meiko scowled and set Len down. He was heavy, despite his lean physique, and she didn't have the strength to carry him as effortlessly as Kaito had.

"Good job Miku," Kaito praised "Keep that up if more get in."

Miku nodded and smiled, happy to have Kaito praising her for once instead of Meiko.

"We broke through!"

Gumi's sudden cry brought everyone's attention, including the zombies. There was a sound of pounding on the door.

"Widen it!" Lily cried "And hurry!"

Another zombie fell through the hole. It dove at Miku, who swung the samurai sword at it, slicing its left arm off at the elbow. She then spun away from the zombie and sliced its head in two. Just then, the door broke. Zombies were coming in. Every zombie that even came close to Miku got its brain chopped up, but soon they were overwhelming.

"Lily!" Kaito cried "Use the rifle!"

"But the noise…" She began.

"Doesn't matter now!" he cried "Miku! Get back and use your gun!"

Miku backed up against the wall and, with Lily, began shooting the zombies down. They fell like dominoes in a young child's game, but more and more kept coming.

"The hole's wide enough!" Luka reported.

"Start going through!" Meiko shouted.

"Wait!" Gumi cried "There's nowhere to go! It's like a ten story drop!"

"Nine," Meiko corrected. "Here," Meiko lifted her gun and shot the window of the nearest building several times until there was a reasonably sized hole "Jump onto that ledge and go through the window,"

Gumi was the first to slip through the hole and onto the small ledge. She leaped with all her strength across the small space between the buildings. She landed on the ledge and bent forward so that the momentum sent her through the hole in the window. Rin was next, then Meiko with Len, then Luka, then Kaito. Lily and Meiko continued to guard them the whole time they were jumping.

"Lily! Miku!" they heard Luka call to them "Come on!"

"You first," Miku said "I'll cover you,"

Lily nodded and stepped out onto the ledge. She leaped across and landed safely in the next building.

"Miku! Go!" she yelled from the other side.

Miku shot one last zombie and quickly stepped out. With no one to cover her, she was frantic and hurrying. She jumped, but sloppily.

Sloppily to the point that she missed the window.

Miku instead hit the side of the building and slid down the side. She clawed at the side franticly, trying to find a grip. But it was no use. She flew down the side of the building and ten stories down, landing with a loud crunch on the pavement below.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Miku!" Lily shouted. The others had rushed to the window to see what had happened. Miku was on the ground, unmoving. Several of her joints were bent strangely, and some of her bones were obviously broken. Her gun had flown out of her hand and her sword, which had been tucked into her belt, was cutting into her leg and creating a pool of blood around her.

"We need to get her!" Luka cried "Before something else does!"

Meiko nodded and they ran out of the now glass filled nursery they'd landed in. They darted down the stairs and out of the building. Meiko handed Len to Luka and scooped Miku up. They ran down the street until they reached a park.

"Through here!" Kaito cried. They dashed into the park and over to a gazebo by the pond. They stopped, breathless and exhausted, inside of it. Meiko lied Miku down on the table that was in the center of the gazebo and Luka set Len down on the ground. Meiko began by placing her ear to Miku's chest, then to her lips.

"She's breathing," Meiko said, relieved "But possibly not for long. I need to straighten the broken bones, but I don't know how properly I can do it."

"You need to do the best you can," Luka said worriedly "She can't just die like this,"

"I'll try," Meiko began to pull the bones into place, each with a stomach churning crunch or a cringe worthy snap. The horrific process continued until Miku's limbs looked generally straight again, but still broken. Meiko grabbed some of the materials she had out of her backpack and created splints for Miku's arms and legs.

"The problem is that we don't have any way of knowing if her ribs have been cracked or her organs damaged." Meiko explained "We don't have the proper equipment."

"What can we do then?" Gumi asked.

"I could try to feel around her ribcage to see if any thing's broken." Meiko said "But from her fall, it's almost definite that she broke her ribs, so I'm afraid of damaging them farther by probing the injured area."

"I'm just worried about her staying alive;" Lily shook her head "It's a miracle she survived that fall. But it wasn't her fault. She had nobody to cover her, and she needed to get away as fast as she could. But she was sloppy and missed the window."

"What about the cut on her leg?" Luka asked "Shouldn't you do something about that?"

"I can disinfect it for now," Meiko said "Not like that helped Len at all. But she's too broken to try and bandage it, not like have enough bandages for a cut going all the way up her leg. I used most of it on Len."

"What about Kaito?" Lily pointed out. "His shoulder's bruising pretty fast." That much was true. Kaito's shoulder was a horrible blackish-purple color and was swelling to twice its normal size.

"Come here Kaito" Maiko commanded. Kaito didn't argue. Meiko removed her red jacket and fashioned it into a sling for his arm. "It's not perfect, but it should keep the injury from worsening."

"Thanks Meiko" Kaito said.

"No prob…" she began.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Meiko didn't hesitate to rush over to Len. His screams were louder and more powerful this time. He was shaking and gripping his head, digging his fingernail into his face. Meiko tried to hit his temple, but his hand was in the way.

"Make him stop!" Gumi cried "He'll attract zombies,"

Meiko ripped his hand away from his face and smacked his temple, the way she had last time. Len, like before, fell silent and settled down like nothing had happened.

"Geez," Lily shook her head. She seemed to be doing that a lot "Thanks Meiko."

"Whatever," Meiko muttered. She knew Len was getting worse, and she had no way to help him. The medical encyclopedia was back at the house; it had been too heavy for them to bring.

Without warning, there was an abrupt chorus of low moans. It sounded like it was getting closer.

"Zombies!" Luka said in a terrified whisper.

"Everyone get down!" Kaito ordered. "Stay quiet and they might leave us alone,"

Everyone dropped to the floor, out of the line of sight from the windows, and fell completely silent. They heard the zombies get close to the gazebo, and shuffle around it. Eventually, when they realized that there was no food there, they began to shamble away. All the inhabitants of the gazebo were holding their breath until they knew they were safe.

When the zombies had gone, it was like everyone exhaled at the same time. They all released the same sigh of relief that they'd been holding in for what had seemed like forever. They were safe….

…until Len started screaming again.

"Shit!" Meiko smacked the boy's temple, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

The zombies were around them in minutes. Reaching through the windows, starting to come through the door way. Luka and Lily yanked Miku off the table and flung it at the door way, blocking it. They pushed chairs in the way to add to the barricade.

"Get away from the windows!" Kaito yelled. Everyone moved together in the center of the room, Meiko holding Miku and Lily holding Len.

"How are we getting out?" Gumi cried.

Meiko looked around her at the zombies reaching in through the windows. She only had one idea.

"Grab your guns; we're shooting our way out."

Nobody protested; they knew it was the only way. Everyone had a gun, so they all drew them.

Meiko looked at Kaito and asked. "Are you okay shooting with one hand?"

Kaito shrugged "You're doing it. And while trying not to reinjure a broken girl."

Meiko nodded "Remember, aim for the head,"

So they turned to the windows and fired. They sent bullets into the heads of every zombie that come into their fields of vision. When they busted through the barricade, the Vocaloids shot down the lines of zombies that were flooding into the room. Soon they had enough room to move out of the Gazebo and walk in a sort of star formation where all of their backs were facing inward so that nobody could be snuck up on. They made their way through the crowd of zombies (and killed half of them) then made a run for it. They ran out of the park and into the street.

"Where now?" Kaito asked Meiko. "They're still behind us."

Meiko looked around, putting her gun away so that she could carry Miku properly instead of dragging her.

"We need to find a safe place with multiple exits," Meiko said looking at their options "We should go into that restaurant over there." She pointed to a small sushi place across the street. "Let's go before they catch up to us,"

They ran across the street and into the restaurant. As soon as they were inside they began stacking tables against the door.

"Alright," Meiko began giving orders again "Gumi and Lily, make sure there's no one already here, and pick up any supplies you find."

"What if we find someone?" Gumi asked.

Meiko looked at her sadly.

"Shoot,"

Gumi nodded solemnly.

"Luka, go and barricade any other doors you can find. Kaito, see if any of the gas, electricity, or water works. Rin, help me with Miku and Len.

Everyone walked off to carry out their tasks. Meiko lied Miku's unconscious body down in a booth. It was the most cushioned thing she could find. Rin, who was now half holding, half dragging Len, carried him over to another booth. She grabbed one of the first aid kits and pulled out an ice pack. It was slightly cold from the cooler it had previously been inside, but it wasn't nearly as cold as they would've liked. She placed it on Len's forehead nonetheless.

Meiko was feeding Miku soup from a can. She had to prop her head up and force her to swallow. She also had to constantly keep her mouth shut to keep her from drooling it everywhere.

"It's like dealing with a baby," Meiko muttered. But she knew Miku couldn't help it. She was unconscious and on the verge of death. All because she'd been nice enough to let Lily go through the window first so she could cover her.

Or maybe it hadn't been an act of kindness. She had just been trying to show Meiko up, prove that being older didn't make you superior. Or…

Or

She had just wanted to prove herself to everyone. She wanted to show that she was more than a lazy teenager. Or that she wasn't a lazy teenager at all. She had wanted to prove that she was useful, strong, and brave. But in the end, it had just been the end of her.

Even if she did wake up, she wouldn't be able to walk. Her legs were shattered and there must have been serious damage to her spinal cord. Her arms would be too heavily damaged to use any sort of weapon, so she would be helpless.

There were no doctors anymore. No hospitals. No way to fix Miku. She was as broken as the window they'd used to get into that nursery. Meiko felt horrible, like the entire accident was her fault. In a way, it was. She had made Miku feel like a useless kid, so she'd gone out of her way to make herself seem useful.

Meiko could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Was this the first time she'd cried in the past two days? She looked outside at the setting sun; it was beautiful. That made it hard to believe the horrors underneath it. She looked back at Miku, who had soup all over her chin. Meiko bent down to wipe it off, but as her hand passed Miku's nose and lips, Meiko realized something.

She wasn't breathing.

…

Gumi and Lily were the first to return to the main room of the restaurant. They came in looking rather pleased with themselves.

"Nobody's here" Gumi reported "But there's TONS of food. Rice and seaweed mainly, but also some tea bags and soup mix." Then she noticed the tear streaks on Meiko's face. Her smile vanished.

"Miku…" Lily whispered.

Rin nodded, confirming their fears. She too had tears slipping down her face.

"She just…stopped breathing" Meiko choked out. "I couldn't do anything about it,"

Gumi was horrified. Hatsune Miku…_dead_? It seemed impossible. She was loud and bright, like an Italian sports car. She always stood out in a crowd with her long blue-green pigtails and deep blue eyes. But those laughing eyes were now soulless and….well, dead. It was like somebody had hit the light switch inside of this bubbly teenage girl and turned her off. But she was more than turned off, she was broken beyond repair. Never again would they hear her high pitched song or her gentle laugh. And her last words? They were nothing deep or memorable. They were just "I'll cover you."

Without warning, Kaito entered the room. He looked pretty excited.

"Guess what?" He asked "The gas, electricity, and water all work! There's a generator outside and a gas tank in the storage room!" He looked over everyone and saw their sadness. His eyes stopped on Meiko.

"Meiko," He said "Are you crying?"

Meiko nodded but said nothing.

"What's going on?" He asked, but nobody answered. Rin just pointed to Miku's body.

The realization hit Kaito like a freight train. He ran to the booth the body was lying in and stared at it. The head was still propped up and the blue eyes still open.

"No," Kaito whispered "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" He was shouting now "MIKU! Miku wake up!" He grabbed the shoulders of the body and shook it "I said WAKE UP! Miku? MIKU!? NO! I can't lose anyone else to this screwed up world! I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Lily was about to tell him gently to quiet down, but he turned and ran out of the room. She started after him, but Gumi stopped her.

"He needs time," was all she said.

"I heard shouting," Luka said as she walked in "Is she…?"

All she got was a nod from Lily and the same point toward Miku's body that Kaito had received from Rin. Tears immediately spilled over her eyelids and gushed down her face. She choked back a sob, remembering what she had said to Miku that same morning. She had to let go.

She wanted to say something about Miku, about how although they loved her, crying here like this wasn't helping anyone. She wanted to say something in Miku's memory.

But instead all she could say was "We should board up the windows,"

Everyone stared at her for a moment, then Meiko nodded. Luka started chopping planks off of the wooded floor and handing them to Lily, who had found a box of nails and was using her metal water bottle as a hammer. Soon the windows were all boarded up, and they could turn on the lights without attracting attention.

Lily turned on the stove and cooked rice for everyone. There wasn't anything to put on it that hadn't already been taken or dumped on the floor, so they just added some of the canned beans which they had.

It was nice to have some hot food, but without Miku, the one person who had been complaining for just that, it wasn't as enjoyable.

Kaito still didn't come back, and they were starting to worry. Lily hadn't seen him in the kitchen, so it was most likely he was in the restroom. When Luka went in to check on him, he wasn't there. She looked around and saw a small slip of paper next to the sink.

_Everyone-_

_I'm sorry, but I just can't take it anymore. I can't handle a world like this, where people are dying every day, where dead people are up and walking around, where I can't protect anyone I care about because I'm too weak. It was my fault Miku died. If I hadn't dropped Len yesterday on the fire escape, none of this would've happened. Miku would still be alive, and we'd all be in our little safe house on the roof. I'm sorry for that._

_I have a confession to make. I know Gakupo is dead. Worse, I killed him. He was the person I shot last night, and that samurai sword was his. It was dark and I couldn't see him, but I found out when I went to get rid of the body. I also shot a smaller person; I don't know who. If you want to find out, their bodies might still be in the alley by the fire escape, but they might've been eaten by now. I'm really sorry for what I did; I should've waited before shooting. I just wanted to protect all of you._

_Another thing, I liked Miku. A lot. After I killed Gakupo I didn't know how I was going to live with myself, but then I got Miku killed. The two people I cared about more than anything were killed because of me. I now realize that with them gone, I don't have anything to live for._

_This only leaves me one thing to say…_

_You can find my body on the roof._

_-Kaito_

Luka stared at the note in horror. A million thoughts raced through her mind. He had killed Gakupo? Why hadn't he told them? He was such a jerk! And Miku? He had been right about that. It was his fault she had died.

But did that mean he deserved to die himself?

Luka thought about it and shook her head. If he stuck around, he might get more of them killed. Who would be next? Well, considering that he had killed Luka's two best friends, she herself would probably be the next victim. Kaito was a walking disaster.

And considering how long it had been since they'd seen Kaito, he was probably dead already. No reason to get everyone all freaked out about it if there was no saving him. They'd already suffered enough with Miku, they deserved some time.

Luka crumpled the note into a ball and flushed it down the toilet.

_Let the bastard die._

…

Everyone looked up as Luka came out of the restrooms. She shook her head.

"He's not in there," she reported. Well, that wasn't a lie. It hadn't been him in there.

Just his suicide note.

"Where could he be?" Gumi wondered. "I'm worried, what if he tried something stupid because of Miku?"

"Could be," Meiko agreed "We should check around the building. Gumi and Lily, check out back. Luka, check the roof. Rin and I'll look after Len."

"Okay," Lily agreed as she and Gumi headed for the back door. Luka followed them, only to find that the barricade had been moved."

"He definitely went out this way," Lily observed. They all went outside. Lily and Gumi began looking around while Luka climbed the ladder to the roof.

There was the body, just like he'd said in the note.

He hadn't shot himself, which would've attracted zombies. Instead he'd slipped some painkillers from Meiko and taken way too many. She could see the bottle in his hand. She bent down and looked at him, his eyes were closed and he was sprawled in an awkward position. Now what did she do. Tell them about the body? Or ditch it? She decided that telling them would be better for her; she just had to make it look like she was surprised and sad instead of angry.

"Gumi! Lily!" She bent over the side of the building and whispered urgently. "He's up here,"

"Oh good!" Gumi whispered back "Is he okay?"

Luka shook her head. Gumi's smile evaporated.

"Come see," Gumi and Lily climbed the ladder and Luka pointed to the body.

"He's holding some of Meiko's meds." Luka explained "It must have been what he killed himself with."

"Why not use a gun?" Gumi wondered.

"He didn't want us to be found," Lily reasoned "He wanted to die silently. So we could be safe,"

Gumi wiped her eyes and said "Let's go tell the others"

…

When Rin and Meiko had heard the story, they didn't look surprised. But it was obvious that they were very upset. Who wouldn't be? Two friends dead in one day, it was horrible.

"We need rest," Luka pointed out "Go, I'll take the first watch,"

Everyone nodded and curled up in various booths, while Luka pointed a gun through the hole in the window boards she had created just for that.

…

The next few days were uneventful. They stayed in the sushi restaurant and were able to get the food and water they needed. Nobody smiled or had any fun and very little was said. Nobody mentioned Kaito or Miku, who they'd buried behind the restaurant, but not before destroying both of their brains with Gakupo's sword. They didn't want to take the chances of seeing Miku and Kaito zombies later.

Two weeks after that day, something different happened.

It was about midnight, and Rin was on watch. Len was lying right next to her when he suddenly started shaking. Rin looked at him. He began to moan and whine in an unintelligible speech. It was like he was a baby having a nightmare.

Rin decided to wake Meiko up.

…

Len had been in the coma for two weeks, but it seemed like only a day or two to him. He had several times been flung back into the strange torturous state where he flew through the strange scenes of pain. But something always managed to turn it off. Otherwise he was in a strange, dreamlike state where everything was dark. He could feel something changing, but he didn't know what it was. It was inexplicably strange.

The strange voice had told him not to fight it, but his common sense told him not to trust strange voices. He tried to fight against the change, but it was like trying to run down the up escalator. When that escalator is going five time its normal speed and pushing you toward a pit of lava, or something equally painful.

He was unable to move in this state. He was conscious of his surroundings (not like there were any), but he was unable to feel his body. It was like one of those dreams where you can look around and move, but you can't feel anything. But in this case, Len had nowhere to move. Everywhere he looked there was just…._nothing. _

"What is this?" He asked himself for the millionth time. And as usual there was no answer, just the same blank emptiness everywhere. He sighed with frustration. He wanted to know what was going on.

…

Meiko looked Len over. Nothing had changed. Except for the shaking and moaning, that is. Although the illness had come on fast, it hadn't really worsened in a while. He had just stayed in the same state of silence, never waking up.

But now there was obviously something wrong. He was whimpering like a scared puppy and moaning like an old man at the same time. It created a strange combination of sounds that only a very sick or injured person could utter.

Rin was scared. Len was her mirror image. In a way, they were the same person. They'd always been together, almost never leaving each other's sides. They had been singing together for as long as they could remember, their voices meant to be together. There were people who thought they were twins, and others who thought they were in love. But in reality, they were just….the same. They were like siblings, but closer. Like a relationship a person has with themself; that was literally what Rin and Len had.

"I don't see any differences from earlier today," Meiko said "I don't know what else to tell you Rin."

Without warning, Len's moans stopped. His breathing started to speed up and gradually became faster until he was hyperventilating. His shaking became a shiver that was practically like vibrations. His fever suddenly soared, causing Meiko to rip her hand away in surprise. She began grabbing ice packs and placing them on his wrists, ankles, neck, forehead, and inner elbows. They all melted within a minute. She tried smacking his temple, but it didn't do anything.

Rin and Meiko were both starting to panic. They didn't know how to help Len. He was growing paler and paler. Then he turned a sort of sickly green color. He vomited all over himself and went pack to pale.

Meiko tried to wipe the vomit away, but every time she finished, more came up.

"What's happening?" Rin cried, waking Luka and Gumi, who were sleeping rather close.

…

Len didn't know what was happening either. The blackness was shattering around him, as if reality itself was falling apart. With every piece of blackness that fell away, a blinding light shone through. The light was blinding, but there was an inexplicable coldness it. And with every second that passed, there was less blackness, more light, and more unbearable cold. The black shell fell away until there was only the small piece on which Len stood.

It was freezing. Len hugged himself and fell to his knees. He could see his breath on the blinding light. He was panicking; the small bit of darkness on which he stood was quickly disintegrating underneath him.

Suddenly the voice that he had heard before was back.

"It's time,"

And with that Len was falling through unbearable cold and light.

…

All of a sudden, Len's breathing slowed. His body temperature dropped drastically, and he fell still.

Rin looked at him with what could only be described as fear. She had become afraid of Len.

Afraid of herself.

"Len?" she asked nervously.

Len was absolutely still for one moment. Rin sighed when she realized she wasn't going to get a reaction out of him.

But just as she turned around, his blue eyes shot open. He looked at his unsuspecting doppelganger with….

…hunger.

* * *

**Question Time! **

**How did you come across my story?**

**What compelled you to read my story?**

**Are you enjoying it so far?**

**What do you think is wrong with Len?**

**Did Kaito deserve to die?**

**Who do you think will survive to the end?**

**Should I bring in any new characters? If yes, than who?**

**Should I stop posting so often? (The answer is NO!)**

**Was two weeks too long of a period to skip? Or is it fine? Why?**

**Should I keep leaving cliffhangers? Or am I getting annoying?**

**Leave your answers and any other comment of suggestions in a review! I'd love to read it!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"What just happened?" Rin asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Meiko admitted "But I do have some theories about his condition."

"Like what?" Lily asked.

"Well, my main theory is that this…thing that's going on has released some sort of…"

Len couldn't wait any longer. He leaped out of the booth and was on Rin in seconds, grabbing her from behind. Rin shrieked ad tried to twist free.

But Len was strong. He fought Rin's struggling limbs and forced them to her sides. Fortunately, that took him long enough to give Lily time to grab Len's side and wrench him away from Rin. Len made a sort of hissing sound and tried to bite his attacker, but Lily was too quick. She slipped her hands onto his wrists and jabbed her boot between his shoulder blades. She pulled his arms back behind him, holding him in a position where he couldn't bite her. She shoved him face-first into the wall and held him there.

"Somebody get some rope!" Lily ordered.

"We don't have any!" Luka pointed out.

"Then find something!" Lily said "I can only hold him like this for so long!"

Luka and Gumi darted into the kitchen to find something. Rin was holding on to Meiko with terror. She had been traumatized. Not only had she almost been eaten by a zombie, but the zombie had been herself! She was horrified; Len, the one person she had always trusted, always put her faith in, had tried to kill her.

Luka emerged holding a chain necklace.

"I found this!" she reported "It's the best we could do,"

"Fork it over!" Lily demanded. Luka complied, tossing her the necklace. Lily pulled Len over to one of the wooden beams supporting the celling and pressed it between his shoulder blades. She pulled his wrists together and bound them with the long necklace made of a thin black chain. She tied it as tight as she could, which was apparently tight enough to hold him.

"He shouldn't be going anywhere now," Lily confirmed. Everyone was silent for a second, and then she said the one thing they were all thinking. "So what should we do with him?"

Nobody said anything, but Rin started sobbing. There was no Miku to comfort her this time, just four sad looking girls who had no idea what to do.

Meiko sat down and let out an exasperated sigh. She had failed. Len had done just as she'd expected.

She looked up at the girls and explained.

"This was my theory. I had suspected that the zombies spread some sort of virus with them, which was the same thing that caused people to turn into them when bitten. The virus completely demolished the disinfectant I put on his wound and entered his bloodstream. It caused him to enter a coma because his mind was undergoing extreme changes. The reason we were able to silence his screams by hitting his temple could have been because the only working vital organ a zombie has is its brain, so his brain had to be modified so that it could support him without assistance. I think that his screaming and sweating were a result of his body attempting to fight the virus by heating up. But the virus seemed to fight back somehow, which caused him extreme pain. I think the moaning and whimpering we just saw were due to the same thing as his previous fits, but his body was far too weak to manage that level of movement and internal aggression.

"Although the virus came on fast, and completely unaffected by his immune system I might add, he was the same through these past few weeks most likely due to the long period of time it took to alter his brain and brain-functions. It actually seems improbable that the two weeks was the only time it needed to completely remove his consciousness and volition."

"Who says it removed his consciousness?" Lily interrupted. "What is he's still in there? Watching all of this? What is he has no control over anything he's doing, but he can still look through his eyes and watch as his body tears people apart and eats them? What if he doesn't WANT to eat and eat and eat until he's destroyed half of the human population?"

"Lily!" Luka cried "Calm down!"

Lily looked down to see that her fist was clenched and raised against Meiko. She unclenched her fist and clenched her teeth. She shook her head once more and sat down.

"You actually may be right Lily," Meiko agreed "But there's no way to be sure. I can't put myself in his head, and you know it. I'm not a miracle worker. How do you think I feel? The responsibility of keeping him alive was completely on me, and I failed! I let an innocent boy turn into one of those things! What do you think it's like to be the oldest? I'm the one person everyone relies one and expects everything from, but can't I GET A FREAKING BREAK? I'm not your mom! And I'M NOT A WIZARD! So stop shitting on me like this!"

Meiko looked around. Lily and Luka looked shocked that Meiko had yelled like that. Gumi looked like she was scared of her. Rin let go of Meiko and started backing away, wiping her tears. Len was still growling and snapping at the air.

Meiko sighed and dropped her face into her hands. She felt horrible. This was a situation that was horrible for Rin and Len, yet she'd made it all about herself.

"I'm sorry," Meiko groaned "I don't know where that came from. I didn't mean to be so selfish,"

"Doesn't matter," Luka said, regaining her composure and brushing Meiko's rant away "But what are we going to do about him? We can't just keep him chained there,"

"Do we…you know…" Gumi stuttered "Kill him?"

Everyone was silent. Nobody stared at Gumi. They'd all been thinking it, she had just been the only one brave enough to turn it into words.

Meiko looked over to where Len was chained, then over to Rin.

"It's your call, Rin," Meiko said.

Rin looked at her. She had no idea what to say. She didn't want to kill Len, but what else was there to do? Keep him chained there like a dog? Let him go free with the other zombies? But what if Lily had been right? What if he was still conscious inside there, but with no control over his own actions? Wouldn't that make it better for him to die now? Was that what he wanted? Or was he already dead? Was his body just an empty shell, with no trace of Len left?

…

Len was trying to fight it, but he was beyond being able to do that. He had missed his chance, just like on the fire escape when it had all began. Why could he never do anything right? He just kept failing over and over again, and where had that landed him? In this horrible disgusting position, that's where.

He hadn't wanted to attack Rin. He had just been so unbearably….hungry. And she had just looked so good…

_No! Stop that! Ignore the urge! Fight it!_

But it was so strong. He wanted to just grab one of those girls and…

_Cut that out! Control yourself!_

But he couldn't. He tried to tell them he still had his own volition, it was just being extremely and heavily influenced by this….this _urge, _but his vocal cords had been disabled along with the rest of his organs_._ He was disgusted with himself. He knew that there was no way to regain control over his mind, because that was what was wrecked more. His body was fine, but he saw why the virus Meiko had explained was controlling his mind instead. The mind itself controlled the body, and the urge to eat was just so unbearably strong that he would be influenced to do whatever the voice in his head told him.

But why did other people move and act like zombies?

Len thought and thought until it hit him. Those people had died before the virus had struck them, so they were completely unable to fight it. The virus took their minds and had complete control over every action. But he was fighting it. He hadn't been bitten, in which the toxins from the zombie would kill him, and then the virus would revive him as a zombie. No he'd been infected _alive._ As far as he knew, he was the only person to ever be infected while still living.

It was a farfetched theory, but it was the only one he could think of. It made a lot of sense when he thought about it, but he was no genius. He was just a little blonde boy.

A little blonde boy who'd become an uncontrollable cannibalistic monstrosity.

…

"Rin?" Luka asked. "We need an answer. Do we kill Len or not?" She meant it gently, but the words were that of the harshest kind.

"DON'T CALL IT THAT!" Rin screamed out of the blue "THAT THING IS NOT LEN! IT'S A ZOMBIE! OR A CORPSE OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT! BUT IT'S NOT LEN!"

"Rin!" Lily snapped "Stop screaming."

"NOT LEN! NOT LEN! NOT LEN!" Rin bawled.

"RIN!" Lily slapped the screaming girl across her cheek with so much force that her head to swung to one side. "Stop it right now! You will attract zombies and get us all killed. We asked for an answer and we expect one. We are giving you the liberty to choose what we do to him, so you better take the chance and decide before we do it for you. But you still need to keep quiet so that we can stay alive. Do you understand?"

Rin stared at Lily in shock. How could she have hit her? What kind of person hit a girl in that emotional state? Rin looked around. Gumi looked just as shocked as she did, but Meiko and Luka were just giving her the same sad, pitiful look. They almost looked disappointed in her for acting so foolishly. Rin turned back to Lily, who was still awaiting an answer.

"Well?" She asked again.

Rin stared at the floor.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

Lily nodded and looked over to Meiko and Luka.

"So what's your call?" Luka asked again.

Rin looked at the zombie chained to the beam. She was trying to convince herself that it wasn't Len, not anymore. Len would never attack her, never. She was sure of it.

So why was she so hesitant to give to okay to kill him?

Rin was flustered. She had never been asked to make a decision like this before in her life, ever. She was scared that if she chose wrong, something would go wrong, and everyone would blame her. She didn't want to let him go, for fear that he might attract other zombies somehow. But she was afraid that if she killed him, he would –even dead- never forgive her.

Rin turned back to look at Lily, who was staring at her with expectation. She turned around to see Meiko and Luka giving her the same look. Gumi was still recovering from Lily's previous assault to Rin's cheek.

Rin turned back to Len. She walked up to him and stood in front of him, far enough not to be bitten. He was acting strangely. One moment he would be thrashing against the bindings Lily had placed on him, the next he would start banging his head against the beam, as if to injure himself.

"Len?" she asked.

He continued to thrash around on the beam, not appearing to notice her comment.

"Len," Rin was fighting back tears. "Len, if you're in there, show me! Show me that there's still something left of you in there!" Tears began spilling over her eyelids and running down her rosy cheeks "Show me that you're not all gone! I want to see something left in you! Please!" The tears were gushing now "Please show me that there's something left!"

…

Len heard his duplicate's pleas, and he tried to hold still. His vision was still blurry the way it was on the first day, so he couldn't focus his eyes on her. He tried to hold still to show her that he could hear her, but the urge had so much control over his brain that he couldn't even stop his thrashing. The most he could do was bang his head against the beam in hope that it would knock him unconscious. No luck there.

He wanted Rin to kill him before he hurt or killed someone, he honestly did. But he also wanted her to know that he was still in his body somewhere, that he still remembered her and cared about her. But he just couldn't hold still with her standing so close.

Then he had an idea. He started kicking himself in the shin, hard. He did it repeatedly without feeling any pain. Apparently his nerves had been deactivated too. But he kicked himself harder and harder to try and catch her attention. The kicks were small, but he hoped it was enough.

…

Rin just stood there, staring at him, rivers of tears flowing down her face. She wanted something, anything to come out as a response.

"Len?" She choked "Len? LEN! LEN!"

Rin crumpled to the ground, bawling like a baby. She just kept saying Len's name over and over again, hopelessly trying to get his attention. After a minute, she stood up, wiped her eyes, and made a decision. She knew what she had to do. There was only one way to try and get his attention.

Rin rolled up the sleeve on her left arm and looked at Len with a funny little smile.

"Rin what are you doing?" Gumi asked worriedly.

"If you're really in there Len," she said, thrusting her arm in his face "You won't bite me,"

…

The sudden offer of her flesh stunned Len; he wasn't sure what to think. He had fought his way to some degree of control over his body. The voice was there urging him to bite her, but another voice had arisen. This voice he was sure was Rin's.

"Well Len?" She asked triumphantly "You gonna bite me or not? If you're in there at all, you won't do it. But if you're not….…I don't want to live any more. So make you're choice!"

The voice of the virus was egging him on, pushing him to sink his teeth into Rin's arm. It was much louder than Rin's voice, and it made more logical points.

Yet he somehow gained enough strength to turn his head away from her thin, pale arm.

…

Rin stared at him in surprise. She hadn't expected him to be able to refuse her offer like that. She grinned with delight and began to cry again.

"LEN! You're really in there!" she sobbed as she pulled her sleeve back down "You're really, really there!"

Len turned his head back to her and smiled. He nodded.

"Len," Rin turned serious "Do you want to live?"

Len's smile disappeared. He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to comprehend the question.

Then he slowly shook his shaggy blond head.

…

The whole process had been an effort for him. He had been fighting the virus with everything he had to not bite Rin. It had been an even bigger effort to let her know that he wanted to die. He couldn't fight the virus forever, and he wanted to die before he hurt anyone.

He watched with his extremely blurry vision as Rin took her gun from the booth Meiko was sitting in and walked up to him.

"Wait!" a voice that must have been Lily's said. How long had Lily been with them? Apparently a lot could happen in…..how long had Meiko said? Two weeks? And where were Miku and Kaito? Hadn't they been with them? "Don't use the gun. Use something that doesn't make as much noise."

"Like what?" Rin asked.

"The samurai sword," Luka suggested. "That should be quicker than a fire axe and quieter than a gun."

Rin nodded (or at least, that's what it looked like) and went to grab the sword. When she returned from fetching it, she stared straight at Len (probably into his eyes, but what could he see?) and asked-

"You ready?" she didn't sound like she was crying.

Len used the little strength he had left to force a nod, the voice in his head screaming at him for doing this.

Rin swung the sword over her shoulder and straight through Len's head.

…

They buried him next to Kaito's and Miku's graves, deep enough so that he wouldn't be found. When Luka and Rin returned from the task, they found Lily cradling Gumi, who was deep in a sea of tears. Rin said nothing, but went up and rubbed Gumi's shoulder.

Kagamine Rin was through being the teary-eyed, pampered girl. From now on, she decided, she would be one of the fighters. She would do whatever it took to keep those still living safe. She swore to herself that she would do whatever it took to protect them, even if it meant putting herself in danger. She would be like Miku, but she wouldn't do it for the sake of showing off. She would do it to keep anyone from suffering the fate Len, Miku, Kaito, and Haku had.

Another week passed without anything eventful. Everyone ate, slept, and drank a healthy amount. They would occasionally send someone out on scouting trips, and Rin always volunteered to join whoever was going. Nobody objected to it, they knew she wanted to feel useful after two weeks of hovering over Len.

After the week had passed, Meiko called everyone together to discuss something important.

"We've been here for a while now," she said "We've been able to get food, water, and sleep for three weeks now without disruption. I think we should start searching for survivors and bringing them here,"

Luka immediately shook her head. "We don't have THAT much food, and there's no telling when the water will run out, considering that there's nobody running the water pumps. As for sleep? People can find their own shelter to nap in. We have enough work cut out for us as it is, taking care of the five of us. We don't need anyone else getting in the way of that,"

"I agree with her," Lily said nodding. "As much as I'd like to help other survivors, we don't have anything to spare."

"So do I," Rin nodded. "I'm not about to let anyone else here die out there. I don't think any of us could handle another death,"

Luka and Lily murmured in agreement.

"It sounds like a good idea to me," Gumi piped up "If it was me out there, struggling to stay alive, I'd sure as hell like someone to come help me,"

"You can't always do the right thing in a world like this," Luka said.

"I don't know if I agree with that," Meiko said "We have the space, and out last few attempts to get supplies went pretty well…"

"Yeah, but who says the next ones will?" Lily argued "Or the next? We're running out of rice and seaweed, and the other food we had before is practically gone! We may have had it fine before, Meiko, but it's about to get a whole lot worse."

Meiko gave Lily a dirty look. She stood up and walked toward the door.

"What are you thinking?" Luka cried "Are you insane? You can't go out there, the place is swarming with zombies!"

"They're dumb," Meiko said without looking back "They won't see me if I stick to the shadows," She started to move things out of the barricade.

"They're dumb, not blind!" Rin argued "They'll still see you!"

Meiko ignored Rin; she just asked "Gumi, you coming or what?"

Gumi was taken aback by the sudden address to her, but soon nodded and stood up to help Meiko.

"You're insane!" Rin cried "You can't just go out and risk your life on the slim chance that you'll find someone!"

Meiko and Gumi said nothing, they just continued to remove the barricade.

Rin stood up in anger.

"I won't let you leave! Not after…"

"Not after what?" Meiko demanded, losing her patience "Who was it? Was it Miku? Or Kaito? Or did it really take as long as Len to figure out that you want to become the mom? Well I have news for you, Rin, it doesn't work. You can try all you like, but people still die. But at least this way, we have a chance of keeping people alive for at least a little while. So don't try to stop me, because it's a hopeless effort."

Rin opened her mouth to protest, but she felt a dainty hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Luka shaking her head at her.

"Let them go," Luka said "If they want to risk their lives, let them. But don't involve yourself.

Rin sighed and sat back down. Luka was right. She turned and watched as Gumi and Meiko left.

…

"Where should we go?" Gumi asked.

Meiko already knew. She'd planned it a day ago.

"We need to go scope out the area by the building we were staying in before. It was a large area with plenty of hiding spaces, so we should be able to find something."

Gumi nodded and they headed for the area.

…

"Should we put the barricade back up?" Luka asked "In case of attack?"

"Wouldn't that make it hard for them to get back in?" Rin asked.

Lily shrugged "That was what they signed up for," she pointed out.

…

When they arrived at the building, there were zombies swarmed everywhere. Meiko grabbed Gumi by her collar and yanked her into the alley by the fire escape. There weren't any zombies in there, but there were two bodies. Meiko moved closer to see if either of them was alive. The first body was much closer to her than the second. It was of a lean, lanky girl with a large blonde side ponytail.

"Neru," Gumi said, shaking her head, her green locks bouncing "I didn't think she would last long."

"What about that one?" Meiko pointed to the body that was much farther away than the first. They jogged over to it.

As they came closer, the first thing Meiko noticed was that the body had long, purple hair. It appeared to be male and was wearing a kimono.

"No," Meiko whispered.

Gumi stared at it. "Do you think it's…"

"Do you?"

Gumi shrugged. "Only one way to find out,"

They walked over to the body, which was facedown, and flipped it over. Their fears were confirmed as they saw Gakupo's face.

"Poor Gakupo, they got to him," Gumi said, touching his face.

"I don't think so," Meiko said, looking closer at Gakupo's head "See this? In his hair? It's a bullet hole. He was shot. And look at his limbs. His bones are all screwed up. Check if Neru's the same."

Gumi checked and found similar traits on Neru.

"But if they were broken like this, then why would someone bother to shoot them?" Gumi wondered "Waste of a bullet,"

"But what if they were shot, then thrown off of a high place?" Meiko suggested. "To get rid of the bodies or something?"

"What are you getting at?"

Meiko looked at Gakupo's body a bit longer before turning to Gumi.

"I think Kaito shot them that night on the rooftop, and got rid of the bodies so that we wouldn't know,"

"What?" Gumi was surprised "I doubt that. It could have been someone else,"

"Look around. Do you see any other bodies?"

Gumi glanced around, then nodded.

"So," Meiko stood up and dusted herself off "Looks like Miku wasn't the only reason Kaito decided to croak,"

"But why shoot him?" Gumi asked "It doesn't make sense. They were best friends!"

"It was dark, Gumi. He probably thought it was a raider or a zombie or something,"

Gumi shook her head. "That stupid little asshole. He should have told us!"

"He probably thought we'd get mad at him." Meiko reasoned "He was worried we'd reject him or something,"

"Especially Luka," Gumi pointed out "Those two were close,"

Meiko nodded and looked over to the streets.

"We should get moving," She said "We're burning daylight,"

* * *

**Moar Question Time!**

**Are there any characters you especially feel bad for?(Living or dead)**

**Was the way the virus works understandable? Or do I need to work on how I word things?**

**Is there anything specific I should work on?**

**Should Gumi and Meiko have left the sushi place?**

**Who do you think will die soon(If you don't think there will be anymore dying tell me about it)? Why?**

**Who is your favorite character?**

**Will Luka ever admit to throwing out Kaito's suicide note?**

**Why do you think Gakupo and Neru were traveling together? Should it be explained in a future chapter?**

**I'm thinking about writing a new fanfiction with more romance and less action. Do you want that, or more action? Why?**

**Is Lily a just a bitch? Or does she have her reasons?**

**Are these chapters too short or long?**

**Please give your personal answers in a review and I'd love to read it! **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Meiko and Gumi walked through the alley and out the other side. They found themselves behind the large apartment building they had been staying in the first two days. Without warning, Meiko grabbed Gumi and pulled her against the wall, in the shadow of the building.

"What?" Gumi cried softly.

"Shhh!" Meiko hissed. "Look,"

Gumi turned to see at least a dozen zombies filling the space between the back of the apartment building and the back of another building. They were lumbering around the space aimlessly, and some in circles.

"Can they see us? Are they blind?" she asked.

Meiko watched them for a moment.

"Well, they don't seem to see us, but they can't be totally blind because Len was able to see Rin and attack her. Maybe they just have horrible vision; didn't Len say on the first day that everything looked blurry?"

"Wasn't that from blood loss?" Gumi raised an eyebrow.

Meiko shook her head "That's what we thought at the time, but this is starting to seem more possible."

"It's amazing what seems possible after the world goes to shit," Gumi whispered, running her fingers through her green curls.

Meiko nodded and looked back at the zombies.

"We need to get through there, but they don't seem to be moving." Meiko said "How are we going to get them away?"

An idea struck Gumi. She reached into her backpack and grabbed an empty soda can she'd picked up the previous day, thinking it would be useful.

"What are you doing?" Meiko whispered.

"Len heard Rin pretty well, right?" She pointed out "So they must have normal, if not advanced, hearing levels. If that's the case…" She wound up like a baseball player and threw the can the way they'd came. It landed with a loud clang sound, causing the zombies to look up and follow the noise to the alley where Neru's and Gakupo's corpses lay.

"How are we going to get back?" Meiko asked "This alley is shaped like an L! There are only two ways to go, the way we came, and behind the building!"

"We'll just have to find another way," Gumi shrugged as the zombies moved out of their path and into the alley by the fire escape. Gumi and Meiko ran slowly crept through the shadows until they were out of the zombies' possible sight. Then they burst into a sprint. They ran through the alley, the bricks on the walls and concrete on the floor becoming red and grey blurs. They dashed until Meiko saw a flicker of bright orange in the corner of her eye. She grabbed Gumi's hand and swung her against the wall, knocking the breath out of her. They had stopped next to another alley that began right next to them.

Meiko peeked around the corner, confirming her suspicions. There was a small fire burning in between a two people, one was much smaller than the other. They obviously didn't know what they were doing, burning a fire in the middle of the day. It was perfectly warm out, and the smoke would attract anyone looking to kill them and take their supplies.

"Should we try it?" Gumi asked "Talking to them I mean,"

"Stay here," Meiko ordered "If anything goes wrong, run. Run and try to find your way back to the others. Do you understand me?"

Gumi nodded, and Meiko stepped into the intersecting alleyway. She walked up to the two next to the fire. The smaller one, which Meiko could now see was a small girl with black pigtails and a torn school uniform, jumped up when she saw Meiko.

"Hiyama Sensei!" she cried. The taller of the two turned around, revealing himself to be a tall man in a torn suit. He had brown hair that had become a huge mess, but must have once been neatly combed. On his nose was a pair of crooked glasses. By the girl's reaction, she guessed him to be her teacher.

"Stop!" the man demanded, holding up a baseball bat threateningly. Meiko had to choke back a laugh, he didn't know she was holding a cop's pistol.

"I don't want to hurt you," Meiko said, slowing her pace "I just want to talk,"

"Who are you?" the teacher, whom the little girl had called Hiyama, demanded.

"Relax Mr. Hiyama," Meiko coaxed "My name is Meiko. I have a small band up survivors staying in a restaurant uptown. I came out here looking for survivors. We have food, working electricity, water,"

"How is the electricity still working?" He demanded "There's no one running the power plant,"

"The restaurant has its own private generator." Meiko explained "And -although the water pump is most likely to stop working soon, if it hasn't already- we have a large supply of ice in the freezer. We can melt that and drink it."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

"If I had wanted to kill you two, wouldn't I have done it already?" she pulled out her gun, and a magazine of bullets "I have these."

"If you want us to trust you," Hiyama was still pointing his bat "Drop the gun,"

Meiko did as he asked, placing the gun and bullets on the ground and backing away from them.

"We have more of these back at the restaurant. They work much better than an ordinary baseball bat."

The teacher nodded and lowered the bat. Meiko came up and sat next to him on the concrete floor.

"Thank you for trusting me Mr. Hiyama," Meiko said.

"Please, call me Kiyoteru," He said "And this is Yuki,"

The small schoolgirl waved shyly.

"She's one of my students," Kiyoteru explained "A very good one, if you ask me."

Yuki blushed and played with one of her short black pigtails. Her light brown eyes glimmered in the sunlight.

"You should put this fire out," Meiko advised "The smoke will give away your location."

"We don't have any water," Kiyoteru said.

"I do," Meiko pulled out her water bottle and handed it Yuki. "Drink," she ordered.

Yuki didn't hesitate. She downed half of the water bottle in seconds. _How long had it been since these people had drunk anything? _Yuki handed the bottle to her teacher politely, who sipped a small amount, and poured the rest on the fire.

"Come on," Meiko turned around and started to leave the alley.

"Wait!" Kiyoteru cried "Your gun!"

Meiko turned around and smiled.

"You take it, I have a friend over here with another," Meiko turned to where Gumi was hiding "Gumi, you can come out now."

Gumi came around the corner with her gun out. She saw Yuki's surprise and quickly put it away.

"You didn't say anything about a kid!" Gumi cried.

"Oh relax," Meiko said "She's probably seen worse things than a gun by now."

Gumi nodded in agreement.

They turned and started walking toward the direction of the apartment building.

…

Lily, Luka, and Rin were all going about usual business in the sushi place. Luka was taking stock of the little supplies they had, Lily was on watch and had the gun aimed through the hole, and Rin was in the kitchen, melting ice to use as drinking water due to the end of their working water.

Lily had her eye glued to the scope, not stopping to look anywhere else. She saw them everywhere, attacking people, eating them, eating animals. She watched as people were torn apart by these things.

She wanted to help, she honestly did, but she knew that the minute she fired the hunting rifle was the minute she would give away their location. It also looked like most of the people out there were mortally wounded, most likely from zombies chomping on them, so they were pretty much doomed and there was no way to save them.

All of a sudden, she heard pounding on the door. She pulled away from the rifle and looked out to see a young couple banging on the door and screaming to be let in. The man was limping and leaning on the girl for support, and the girl was horribly bleeding from a large wound on her arm that could only be a bite.

"Should we help them?" Luka asked, approaching.

"No," Lily shook her head "The woman's bitten, and the man has something wrong with his leg, might be a bite too. We can't let them in,"

Luka nodded solemnly and watched as the man was grabbed and ripped apart by a hoard of zombies. The woman screamed and tried to flee, but didn't get far before she fell in her high heeled boot and hit the ground. The zombies were soon on top of her. Lily looked away, putting her eye back on the scope, but the woman's screams were loud and clear.

"It's a miracle someone like her even lasted this long." Lily said, shaking her head. "She must have had someone protecting her. She was unarmed, wearing high heels, and trying to run in a long pencil skirt."

Luka nodded.

"In a world like this, you can't survive on money, popularity, or looks." Luka said. "Everything that mattered in our old world doesn't mean shit now. It's all about your strength, your brains, and your stealth."

"The whole world's been turned upside down," Lily agreed.

"How do you know it's the whole world?" Rin pointed out as she returned from the kitchen. "It could just be Japan, or this city for that matter,"

"Doubtful," Lily said, shaking her head "If that was the case, couldn't the other countries do something to help? It's most likely that the whole world has been reduced to scavengers like us and those freak corpses. We're lucky to still be alive,'

"It wasn't luck," Luka argued "It was survival skills. Think of Haku, or that couple we just saw. They weren't fit to survive like this; nobody has the time for drunks or fashionistas."

…

They were behind the apartment building when Meiko grabbed Yuki and Gumi and jerked them into the shadows, against a window. Kiyoteru was caught by surprise, but he hastily followed their lead.

"What is it?" Gumi asked.

"Those zombies from before," Meiko explained "They're still where you threw that can."

"What would keep them over there?" Kiyoteru asked "Is there anything there that would attract them,"

Meiko and Gumi looked at each other, an understanding passing between them.

"Gakupo and Neru," Gumi whispered, her green eyes wide. "Their bodies are still there,"

"Who?" Kiyoteru asked.

"Some people," Meiko said "It doesn't matter,"

"Well, what do we…"

Out of nowhere, a zombie burst through the window behind them and grabbed Yuki around her shoulders. Yuki screamed and tried to pull away, but it was no use; the zombie was amazingly strong.

Gumi spun around, pressed the gun to the zombie's forehead, and fired. It collapsed on the window, releasing Yuki. Yuki darted into the arms of Kiyoteru and looked at the zombie with fear.

"That did it," Meiko muttered "Give me the gun Kiyoteru!"

He handed the gun over gratefully, and Meiko and Gumi stepped in front of the crying student and frightened teacher. They started shooting zombies down, creating a sort of pathway in between them.

"Go!" Meiko commanded. Kiyoteru dashed through the path they'd created, pulling Yuki along with him. Gumi and Meiko followed, but at a slower pace. They covered the two running ahead and each other. One of the zombies snuck up on Gumi and grabbed her from behind. She tried to spin around and shoot it, but it had her in a choke hold.

"Gumi!" Meiko cried, trying to aim for the zombie. She was afraid to shoot though; she wasn't experienced enough to shoot without hitting Gumi.

The zombie sank its teeth into Gumi's exposed neck, taking a large bite out of her flesh. She screamed in pain.

"SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME PLEASE!" Gumi screamed.

Meiko aimed and fired.

One problem, she was out of bullets.

"Dammit," Meiko swore, searching for more. But there were zombies all around her too, and her only choice was to run.

She sprinted out of the alley and over to Yuki and Kiyoteru. As they ran away from the zombies and toward the sushi restaurant, they could still hear the green haired girl's screams.

"I'm sorry Gumi," Meiko whispered as she ran, leaving her dying friend behind.

…

Lily was searching the streets for any sign of their friends, but saw nothing.

"Why aren't they back yet?" She asked Luka without looking up

"Should we go look for them?" Luka asked.

"Wait! No, I see Meiko!" Lily cried "Start moving stuff!"

Rin and Luka started yanking tables, chairs, shelves, paintings, and other various items away from the door. They could hear banging as they tried to get in.

Lily covered them, shooting any zombie that came to close. She had become amazingly skilled with a gun over the past few weeks and was an amazing shot. She blasted through every zombie head that she saw as a threat to her friends, then she noticed something.

"Gumi isn't with them!" She reported.

"Oh no," Rin said "Not another one. I told them not to go!"

"Lily! Come help us move stuff!" Luka cried.

"I need to cover them!" Lily responded, she was about to reload when she realized she was out of ammo. "Shit! Where's the extra rifle ammo?"

"Just come help!" Luka cried.

"What's taking so long?" Meiko cried. "I'm out of ammo!"

Without warning, a zombie grabbed Meiko from behind, she cried out.

"Lily! Shoot it!" But when she looked through the hole, she couldn't see the rifle, or Lily for that matter.

Meiko kicked the zombie in the knee, hard. The blow should have broken its knee backward. But nothing happened. The zombie chomped down on her shoulder, causing her to scream.

Kiyoteru took his bat and hit the zombie's head off before it could take a bite out of Meiko. Meiko stumbled over against the door just as Luka opened it, causing her to fall into the restaurant. Kiyoteru dragged Yuki in with him.

Luka slammed the door shut and, along with Rin, began resetting up the barricade. Lily took Meiko and set her in a booth.

"Are you bit?" Lily demanded.

Meiko slowly nodded and pulled up her short sleeve, showing the minor bite on her shoulder.

"It didn't break skin," Lily reported "Maybe…"

"No!" Meiko shook her head weakly "The toxin, or whatever it is that kills you, it passes through human skin. I can tell that it's already killing me. I need you…to…"

"You don't have to say it," Lily whispered, her eyes tearing up "I understand. Where do you want me to…"

"Somewhere…somewhere they won't have to watch…." Meiko said coughing.

Lily nodded and took Meiko into the kitchen and out the back door. She lied her paling form on the ground

"Anything to say?" Lily was crying now.

"One thing," Meiko coughed again, the poison worked fast. "The people Kaito shot….that night...remember?"

"Did you find their bodies?" Lily asked urgently.

Meiko nodded.

"Gakupo….and Neru," she whispered.

Lily's face whitened. But she nodded.

She raised the samurai sword. She closed her eyes and swung it down on Meiko's head.

…

When Lily came back in, she walked straight up to Kiyoteru and grabbed him by his shirt collar.

"Tell me right now, are either of you bitten?" she asked, her voice a deadly whisper.

"No, I swear." He said nervously.

"What happened to Gumi?" she demanded.

"The girl with the green hair? They got her back in the alley." He was nervous "Meiko tried to help her, but she was out of bullets."

Lily glared at him before letting go.

"What are your names?" she asked.

"I'm Hiyama Kiyoteru. This is my student from the elementary school, Kaai Yuki."

"I can't believe this." Rin muttered "I told them not to go. I told them something bad would happen. And look what happened," She clenched her fists and tried not to cry. "Haku, Miku, Kaito, Len, now Gumi and Meiko! Everyone around us is dying! Can anyone survive this screwed up world?"

"Guys," Lily interrupted "There was something Meiko said just now. She said that she found the bodies of the people Kaito shot that night three weeks ago,"

Luka paled.

"People?" Rin asked "There were more than one?"

"Apparently, it was Gakupo and Neru,"

Everyone was silent. Luka stared at the floor, practically filled with guilt.

"Oh god," Rin choked "Gakupo….not him too."

"I know," Lily nodded, she glanced at Luka "I'm sorry Luka,"

Luka just nodded.

"Luka?" Rin asked "I know that look. What is it?"

"What?" Luka looked up and realized that everyone was staring at her, even Yuki. "What are you talking about?"

"That face you're making, it's the face you make when you're hiding something," Rin explained "What is it?"

Luka sighed and looked at Rin, then at Lily.

"I…I already knew…" Luka admitted

"How?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Kaito….left a suicide note. He said in the note that he had seen Gakupo's body and known that he shot him. He also said it was dark, and it was an accident. But I…I was just so mad at him that I destroyed the note."

Lily and Rin stared at her in shock.

"You WHAT?" Lily cried "Are you freaking INSANE!? We could have saved him! We could have stopped him from killing himself like that! But you just had to be selfish! You could have at least SAID something!"

"Lily…" Rin interrupted "She was mad. Her two best friends had just died, and Kaito had shot one of them. How would you have reacted?"

"It doesn't matter how I would have reacted!" Lily exclaimed "This isn't about me. It's about her!" She pointed at Luka.

"If I may interject…" Kiyoteru began.

"No!" Lily was really angry now "No you may not 'interject' you stupid man! You have no idea what we're talking about! You haven't been through all the things we have! You didn't know Kaito! Or Miku! Or anyone else who died! We had eight people to start, you know that? How many are we down to now? Three! It's just me, Rin, and stupid lying Luka over there!"

"Lily, stop!" Rin cried. "You're being stupid about this! Don't you get what Luka was going through? He killed…"

"It was an accident!" Lily cried in Kaito's defense "How do you think HE felt after killing his best friend? Pretty damn worse than Luka felt I bet!"

"Wait…Lily, did you LIKE Kaito?" Rin asked.

"This is not a time for games Rin!" Lily shouted.

"This isn't a game!" Rin argued "I'm trying to find out it's such a big deal! He's dead now, it's not like we can change that."

"Oh shut up you stupid little girl!" Lily shouted "Like you've even cared about anyone before! You don't know what it's like to kill someone you really care about!"

"Are you SERIOUS!?" Rin yelled "Did you FORGET about Len? I had to take a sword and CUT HIS FRIGGIN' HEAD IN TWO! If anyone doesn't know how that feels, it's you, you little bitch! Can't you stop to consider anyone but yourself? Ever?"

"The only person who only thinks about herself is Luka over there!" Lily said, turning the argument back to Luka. "This is all her fault,"

"Stop turning this away from yourself Lily!" Luka bellowed "Kaito WANTED to die! He killed himself because the people he cared most about were dead, and he couldn't go on anymore! So HOW IS WHAT I DID A CRIME TO HIM!? I was doing him a favor!"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you were thinking when you ripped up his suicide note, weren't you?" Lily sneered "'It's all for Kaito!' And you say I'm full of crap!"

"Leave her alone!" Rin shouted "Stop picking on all of us would you? When did you become such an asshole anyway?"

"Try taking a guess!" Lily almost laughed "Do you think it was when rotting corpses got up and started walking around? Or when more than half of my friend ended up DEAD? Huh?"

"This argument isn't helping anyone," Kiyoteru tried again "Let's all just…"

"Just what?" Lily shouted "Just quiet down and talk calmly!"

"Yes," he said. "You are capable of that, right?"

Lily fell silent, her cheeks burning red. She sighed and sat down.

"Now, please don't yell in front of Yuki," Kiyoteru asked "She doesn't like it when people yell."

The girls looked over at the small, brown eyed head that was peeking out at them from behind the bar.

"You can come out now," he said gently to her. "Everything's fine,"

Yuki quietly slipped out from behind the bar, conscious of everyone's eyes on her, and stood sheepishly next to her teacher. She stared at the floor.

"How old?" Rin asked.

"Only nine," Kiyoteru replied "She's very tough to have put up with this environment."

"I'll say," Luka said "She's dealing with stuff that not even a normal grown man could handle.

Yuki blushed cherry red.

"Lily, I'm sorry," Luka mumbled, bringing back the previous topic.

"You better be," Lily sneered, but a after a scolding look from Kiyoteru, she continued with "I mean, I'm sorry too,"

"Another pointless conflict solved," Rin sighed "Who's hungry?"

At least, it was solved for now.

* * *

**You asked for Yuki, you got her!**

* * *

**Even Moar Question Time!**

**Was that last argument too easily resolved? If yes, what should have happened?**

**Will Yuki and Kiyoteru ever replace Meiko and Gumi?**

**Should the argument about Kaito's note come back up? (There was a slight bit of foreshadowing toward it, but it can be changed)**

**Was that too much death in one chapter? Is it becoming depressing?**

**Is the violence too much? Should I change the rating?**

**Is the setting of the sushi restaurant getting old? Should the group move somewhere else?**

**Why did Lily get so upset about Kaito? Why did Rin defend Luka?**

**Should there be more dialogue for Yuki?**

**Should I introduce any more new characters? Or are Yuki and Kiyoteru enough?**

**Were Kiyoteru and Yuki the right characters to bring in? Or should I have used someone else?**

**Do I need to work on my word choice?**

**Does this seem lazily written? Why or why not?**

**ANSWER IN A REVIEW OR A VOCALOID ZOMBIE OF YOUR CHOICE WILL COME INTO YOUR ROOM AT MIDNIGHT AND EAT YOUR INTESTINES!**

* * *

**If this story gets 500 views I will make the next chapter extra long!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

They ate in silence; there was still an awkward sort of tension between Luka and Lily. Neither of them would look in the other's direction, and whenever one talked for more than a minute, the other felt compelled to change the subject.

"So," Luka turned to Yuki and Kiyoteru "What have you been doing to stay alive for the past few weeks?"

"We spent most of our time hiding in the school. The school was put under lockdown when it happened, so nobody could get in or out,"

"Hence the purpose of a lockdown," Luka nodded. "What happened?"

"Someone…a teacher….she went a little insane. She…." He glanced over at Yuki, but she was busy stuffing food into her mouth, not listening to the conversation. "She killed another teacher in one of the bathrooms."

Kiyoteru expected a "how horrible!" or a "poor woman" or at least an "oh my god."

But Luka just said "So her body got up and started walking around, attacking people."

"Uh…" he glanced at Yuki again "Yeah. It was awful,"

"I can imagine," Luka agreed.

"So how did you get out?" Lily asked before Luka had even finished talking. Luka glared at her, and she smirked back.

"Well," Kiyoteru glanced at Luka before responding "When she started attacking, I tried to round up as many students as possible and get them into my car. But some…..didn't make it. And others went off with this other teacher who said she knew a safe place to go to. Yuki wouldn't go with her though; she wanted to stay with me. She said I was her favorite teacher. She threw a tantrum when they tried to take her by force."

Lily looked at Yuki in surprise.

"She said all that?" she asked. "But she's so quiet,"

"Well, after what she just saw, I couldn't imagine her saying a whole lot," Luka pointed out. "She saw Gumi…" She trailed off.

"There is no need to say anything that pains you," Kiyoteru said gently. "Nobody is pressuring you to say anything that you do not want to,"

Luka smiled.

"Thank you for your consideration, but you should know that if I didn't say anything that pained me, I wouldn't talk at all,"

"So how long ago did you leave the school?" Lily interrupted.

"Um…a day or two ago," Kiyoteru said nervously.

"So where did they find you?" Luka asked, looking at Lily smugly.

"In an alleyway," he glanced between the two girls, as if afraid of what either would say next. Lily was a perfect shot with a gun, had the reflexes of a snake, and could kick ass like nobody's business. Luka had practiced with Gakupo's sword to the point of near expertise, was faster than anyone else who had traveled with them at any point, and could fight just as well as Lily. She still slightly missed her fire axe, but she had dulled it beyond use three weeks ago when she bashed it into the concrete. They were both amazingly dangerous, and yet Kiyoteru was afraid of their words. It wasn't even their words directed at him; it was their words used to assault each other. They made him nervous, but he didn't say anything, for obvious reasons.

"What were you doing there?" Lily said, trying to outdo Luka.

"Just….trying to pull some food together." He answered.

"Well, how were you…."

"How were you doing it?" Luka cut her off.

"Hey, I was going to say that!" Lily argued.

"Oh my god," Rin muttered, smacking her forehead.

"Well too bad, I said it first!" Luka teased.

"Geez! You two are like first graders!" Rin exclaimed. "Seriously! Yuki is more mature than you two! This is the most idiotic argument I've heard all day!"

"They're still mad about the previous subject," Kiyoteru said, shaking his head "They weren't actually sorry for arguing their points, and now they're transferring that anger at each other into anything they can. In this case, it's an argument of the most ridiculous kind,"

"Who are you calling ridiculous?" Lily snapped "We let you and the little girl in here because we're just that nice, and you call us ridiculous?"

"I never said that you were ridiculous," Kiyoteru assured her "It was merely the subject of your argument."

Lily and Luka fumed at his response, their eyes squinting and their fists clenched.

Rin laughed. "Looks like you found a common enemy. And as they say 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' right?"

"Oh stop trying to turn this into something pleasant, Rin" Luka argued.

Rin sighed. "This is stupid. There are freaking corpses walking around outside, and you two are arguing over who says what at what time."

Yuki raised her hand like she was still in school.

"What is it Yuki?" Kiyoteru asked kindly.

"I have to pee," she said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper.

"I'll show you the bathroom." Luka said, standing up. She led Yuki over to the restrooms on the opposite side of the restaurant.

As soon as Yuki was in the bathroom and Luka had returned, Rin leaned across the table and stared at Luka and Lily.

"Listen to me," Rin muttered "You guys are getting out of hand, and it's just stupid. I'm losing it and if you keep going on like this, I swear I am going to drag both of you out back, and bury you with everyone else."

"Are you even listening, Rin?" Lily asked "She threw away his suicide note and LET KAITO DIE! You would have to be insane to trust her at this point. She's a danger to the whole group, and I THOUGHT we were doing whatever it takes to survive!"

"She made one stupid mistake, Lily!" Rin growled.

"Stupid?" Luka interrupted. Rin ignored her.

"That doesn't mean she's conspiring against everyone! This isn't a war and she's not a spy. So why don't you just calm the hell down?"

"Calm down?" Lily cried "You're telling ME to calm down? You're the one who exploded earlier defending her!"

"I 'exploded' because you were directly offending not just me, but Len. And NOBODY says anything like that about us. Especially after I had to…"

"Oh save it Rin." Lily barked "You're just taking her side because she's your goddamn friend! Then there's me! The vocaloid who nobody knows about! I never perform in concert with you! I don't have fans all over the world wearing my t-shirts and holding my plush toys! I'm not even on any of the posters!"

"Like any of that matters now," Luka jabbed "This isn't about any of that!"

"You don't get it, do you?" Lily yelled "You've never understood, being one of those perfect girls who get to be in all the fanfictions!"

"Who cares about that?" Rin cried "This isn't some fanfiction! This is real life, and you need to stop acting like a spoiled little brat!"

Rin's shout echoed around the room. Lily gave her a death glare, one that was filled with more hatred and resentment than had ever been seen on the face of anyone, ever. Her pretty blue eyes had scrunched themselves up into tiny slits and her perfect nostrils were flared with rage. Her long blond hair was an unwashed and unbrushed mess that only added to her furious and intimidating glare. But Rin and Luka stood their ground, standing up to Lily's stubborn and childish act. It was strange for Lily to be acting that way; she was usually all about business and survival, not caring enough to get into any argument that wasn't against someone who was putting their lives in danger with their irrationality or stubbornness. But something about this had stirred Lily into a sort of vocaloid tornado. She had become a sort of self-appointed angel of vengeance in her own mind, and she was dedicated to avenge Kaito's death no matter what.

Lily stood up from the table, grabbed her empty plate and strode into the kitchen in a manner that looked like every pound of her boots into the wood floor was an attempt to take out her anger on the unsuspecting floorboards.

"This is stupid," Rin said, immediately regretting her getting involved. "We should be planning our next move, not fighting over something like this. Besides, what does either side of the argument hope to accomplish by this? Kaito will still be dead and buried and his suicide note still gone."

All of a sudden, there was a childishly high-pitched scream coming from the restroom.

"Yuki!" Kiyoteru shouted, rushing in the direction of the restrooms. Luka and Rin grabbed their weapons and followed.

…

Yuki had just walked out of the stall when she felt someone grab her from behind. She screamed before he put his big, dirty hand over her mouth. She tried to bite it, but he held her lips shut. She kicked him and flailed around, but he just held onto her tighter. She could hear him whispering in her ear, but most of what he said was either words she didn't know or was too quiet for her to understand. She felt herself crying; she was terrified. She wanted Hiyama Sensei to come and help her, because that was what he always did. When kids on the playground were teasing her, he would come up to her while she was crying and bring her into the classroom to comfort her. Sometimes he even gave her a piece of candy.

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom burst open and there was Hiyama Sensei! With him were the girl with the pretty pink hair and girl with the short yellow hair that was tied back with a really pretty ribbon. Yuki had thought that they were both kind of scary, but not as scary as the man behind her.

"Yuki!" Hiyama Sensei cried, seeing the man holding her up.

"Put her down!" the pink haired girl demanded, her blue eyes were shining with anger.

The man holding Yuki laughed. She suddenly felt a cold piece of metal press against the side of her head. Everyone's eyes widened with fear, and Hiyama Sensei turned white. That made Yuki even more scared; there was nothing scarier than when grown-ups were afraid of something.

"Drop the weapons," she heard him say.

The pretty pink-haired girl dropped the big sword she was holding, and the yellow-headed girl let her gun fall to the floor.

…

"How did you get in here?" Rin asked, not too meanly for fear of the gun he was pointing at Yuki's temple.

"I went through the back door," He said, smirking. He was tall and muscular. He had a dark tan and was rather chubby. His brown hair was buzz cut short and his clothes were nothing but rags and tatters.

"That's impossible!" Luka cried "The back door was barricaded!"

"Nah, I just went through as some blond chick was going out," he smiled, revealing his half rotten teeth.

"Lily," Rin murmured in shock, turning to Luka "She left?"

"We have other problems right now," Luka grumbled back.

"What do you want?" Kiyoteru demanded.

"What do I want?" the disgusting man laughed. "I want what every person living in this world now wants. I want food! I want a place to stay! I want everything you have here!"

"What?" Rin exclaimed. "We can't…"

"Oh you better be able to," he growled "Or the little girl gets it."

Rin clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming every swear she knew at the man. Nobody else was going to die, not if she could help it.

"Fine," she muttered. Luka and Kiyoteru weren't surprised. Yuki was the last person anyone wanted to die.

"Alright. You!" he pointed to Luka "Show me where all of your food and weapons are!"

Luka stared at the ground as she led the man out of the room. Yuki had stopped struggling; she was frozen with fear.

Rin and Kiyoteru watched as Luka showed him the all the guns and ammo. As soon as they went into the kitchen, Rin ran to where all the guns where. She grabbed a cop pistol and shoved it into jacket.

"What are you doing?" Kiyoteru asked nervously "What if you're caught? He'll kill you! Or Yuki!"

"And if I don't, we'll all die out there." She pointed out as she stuffed ammunition into her the pockets of her jeans. "Now come help me!"

Kiyoteru grabbed one off the dulled fire axes and shoved it into his coat.

"Don't take that!" Rin whispered "We dulled the hell out of it by beating it against concrete. Grab a gun!"

"I don't know how to use a gun!" he urgently whispered back. "I'm a teacher!"

"And I'm a fourteen year old girl!" Rin argued "I didn't know how to use a gun when I first shot one! So I figured it out."

Kiyoteru put the hatchet back and grabbed the pistol Meiko had been using when she died. He started grabbing all the ammo he could fit into his coat and pants pockets. When they heard the door start to open, they jumped at least two feet away. The man looked them over and looked back to the guns. He hadn't gotten a good enough look at them to know that two were now missing, along with almost all of the pistol ammo.

"Get away from the guns!" the man commanded, still holding Yuki aloft. Rin and Kiyoteru complied, moving toward Luka, who was still staring at her shoes.

"Now get out!" he bellowed "All of you!"

"Give us Yuki first," Luka said stubbornly.

"I'm not letting her go until you're out of the building!" he roared.

Rin pulled out her gun with Superman-like speed. She pointed it at the man and fired, sending a bullet right into his brain. She was too quick for him to react, so he just fell to the ground, dropping Yuki. She ran straight to her teacher and grabbed him around the waist, crying into his shirt.

"Hiyama Sensei!" she sobbed "He…he wanted to hurt me, Hiyama Sensei! He was going to hurt me really bad!"

"It's okay," he said, stroking her hair. "You're okay. Rin saved you. She saved you and made him go away."

Yuki turned around. She took the sight of the body in, processing in her little head what had happened.

"He's dead," she said finally.

Kiyoteru looked at the body with disgust.

"Yes," he responded.

There was a sudden banging on the walls. Luka ran to the hole and looked through. She stared at the sight for a long time.

"Luka," Rin asked "How many?"

Luka finally turned away from the peephole and back to them.

"A lot," she explained "More than we can handle. The shouting and the gunshot must have attracted them, but it's like a crowd in front of a stage at a concert. I swear there's an ocean of zombies just trying to break in. They won't take long to break the entire wall down. We need to get out of here now."

Luka nodded. This was the first escape they had to make without Meiko to give orders, so she decided that she would step up to that task.

"Rin, you know the medical supplied best, so pack those up into Meiko's backpack. Kiyoteru, get all the food we still have into this backpack," She tossed the backpack that had once been Kaito's at him. "The food's in the kitchen. I'll get all the weapons together."

"Wait!" Yuki cried "What do I do?"

"Go help your teacher!" she said, focused on gathering the guns together. She ran into the bathroom to get her sword and the gun Rin had dropped. When she returned, everyone was ready.

"Dammit," Luka swore "This is too much. We can't bring all of these!"

"Everyone will just have to take one." Rin resolved. We're running out of time!"

So Luka grabbed a hunting rifle and her sword; it was a bit of a load to carry, but it was all she was carrying.

"Alright," She said "We need to…"

The wall crumbled. The zombies started shambling into the restaurant.

"C'mon!" Luka cried, making her presence known to the zombies. She led them into the kitchen and out the back door to find even more zombies waiting for them. Luka pulled out her sword and sliced her way through the zombies. It was like she was doing a strange exotic dance, except she was killing the entire backup. She was swift and graceful, keeping her three companions out of harm's way.

Rin drew her gun to help, but Kiyoteru shook his head at her.

"The noise will just attract more," he reminded her. She nodded and reluctantly tucked the gun away. They followed Luka to the ladder that led to the roof and climbed up. Yuki first, then Kiyoteru, then Rin, then Luka. They scrambled onto the roof and looked around.

Luka and Rin walked over the edge and overlooked the scene in front of the resturaunt. Luka hadn't been joking; it really did look like an ocean of zombies. They were all clustered near the restaurant, looking for food.

There was a loud crash. Rin peeked over the edge to see that another wall had crashed. The concrete where she was standing started to crumble.

"The roof's caving in!" she cried "We need to move!"

"Where can we go?" Kiyoteru asked, sounding panicked. "We're on the roof! There are zombies everywhere!"

Luka glanced at the neighboring building. It was a small antique shop with a slanted roof. She grabbed Yuki around her waist, ran to the edge of the crumbling roof and jumped. Yuki screamed as they flew through the air, soaring over the heads of zombies.

"Are you insane?" Kiyoteru screamed. But Rin grabbed his hand and ran with him to the edge.

"Do you have a better idea?" she shouted as she jumped, dragging his skinny body behind her.

Luka landed on her feet on the roof, using her body to protect Yuki from the impact. She started to slide toward the edge, but kicked the roof to propel herself to the point of the slanted roof. She grabbed on, her back to the roof and holding Yuki with one arm. It wasn't a problem, Yuki weighed about a third of what she did.

Rin and Kiyoteru came flying toward them, Kiyoteru shouting like an idiot. Rin grabbed onto the edge Luka was holding onto, but Kiyoteru didn't fly as far due to his being heavier. He slammed into the side of the roof, Rin holding onto his hand so he didn't slide off. She winced at his weight, he weighing almost twice as much as she did. Unlike Luka, who was hugging Yuki to her chest, Kiyoteru was practically dangling off of her arm.

Luka pulled herself and Yuki onto the point of the roof; they then sat there with their legs dangling off of the flat side.

Rin tried dragging her burden up, but he was too heavy. There was only one option.

"Climb me!" She ordered.

"Wha…I…" Kiyoteru stuttered.

"Just do it before I drop you!" she shouted, her arm under great stress.

He grabbed her left leg with his left arm, then vice versa. Rin lifted her now unburdened arm to grab onto the roof's edge. Kiyoteru slowly grabbed his way up Rin's legs without hesitation.

Then came the awkward part.

"Should I…" he asked nervously.

"I'll try not to shoot you if you touch my butt," she grumbled "Now climb before I fall!"

He scrambled his way up the rest of her body, accidentally touching her a few times. He even stepped on her head when he got to the top. Rin then pulled herself up, grumbling something about stupid men.

"What now?" Rin asked "We can't just sit here forever."

"We can push off of the flat side to that roof over there." Luka pointed to a small bookstore painted blue with a flat roof. "It's closer than that last jump, so we won't have to get a running start."

"Alright," Rin agreed "But I'm not carrying this guy this time. He's heavier than he looks."

They all looked at Kiyoteru, who smiled with embarrassment and scratched the back of his head.

…

They spent the next hour or so jumping from roof to roof, shop to shop, until they reached a small boutique. Next to it was a large office building, making it impossible to continue jumping.

"What do we do now?" Luka wondered. "There are still zombies everywhere and we need to find somewhere to stay."

"Why don't we just sleep up here?" Kiyoteru suggested. "They can't get up here, and we can figure out what to do in the morning. Besides," he glanced at the almost fully set sun. "Dusk is approaching,"

They nodded. The roof was wide and flat, giving them some space to spread out and lie down. Luka loaded her rifle and aimed it over the edge of the roof, ready to snipe anyone who posed a threat. Kiyoteru removed his backpack and pulled out four energy bars, which he evenly distributed among them. Rin removed her backpack and jacket, revealing her red and white horizontally striped sweater. She had been wearing that sweater for around two weeks now, and it was horribly filthy, but is comfortable and easy to move and fight in. She laid out her jacket and tried to find some comfortable position on top of it. It was ridiculously hard, the roof being made of hard cement. So she just sat up and munched on her energy bar, finding it absurdly stale and extremely unpleasant to bite, chew, and swallow.

Yuki watched her, not having anything else to do. Rin noticed her observer and waved her over. Yuki fulfilled her wish and quietly walked over and sat down next to her.

"Your uniform is very messy. It's filthy and all ripped up." Rin observed. "I have some extra clothes in my backpack. Do you want to wear some?"

"I won't fit into your clothes," Yuki murmured "They'll be too long on me."

"Why don't we find out?" Rin encouraged the small child. She reached into her backpack (She had given Yuki the one with the medical supplied to carry, it being the lightest) and pulled out a long-sleeved red t-shirt. The previous owner must have had the same thin physique as Yuki, but was much taller as was proved when she tried it on.

"I can fix that," Rin said happily as she ripped the sleeves so that they didn't go farther than Yuki's wrists.

"What about the bottom of the sweater?" Yuki asked "It goes down to my knees."

Rin smiled and tied the end of the sweater into a large knot so that it fit the tiny girl perfectly.

"There," Rin scooted back to admire her handiwork "Now you look like a model,"

Yuki giggled and spun around, ending the spin with an outrageously mocking pose. Rin laughed at her goofy impersonation of a high fashion supermodel. Yuki was young, but not too young to understand the stupidity of modeling, especially at a time like this.

Rin stopped and wondered for a moment if there were any people like that still left in the world, the rich, famous people who never did anything for themselves. Were there any people like that still alive?

Then Rin realized something. That had been HER just a few weeks ago. She and the other Vocaloids had been pop stars, rich and famous. But there was none of that anymore. Rin thought about those days, when her biggest problem was if she would mess up on stage, which she never had. She longed greatly for days like that, where they wouldn't have to worry where their next meal would come from, would they steal it, or find it lying around, or dig through the trash for it? At that time, they also hadn't had to worry about whether they would be something's next meal either. She turned to look at the street. Still swarmed with zombies, just like it had been a few hours ago.

Rin ran one of her dirty hands through her short blonde hair. It was full of tangles, dirt, and split ends. But she hadn't had a chance to wash or brush her hair since before that whole mess had begun. She felt the white hair ribbon that held her hair out of her face. The perfect bow that it had been tied in was now a limp, hastily tied knot. Whenever the ribbon came undone, Rin just tied it as tight as she could, even if that meant knotting it a hundred times. She had given up on any sort of attempt at beauty, but none of that mattered anymore. Her perfect little sailor style outfit was now in tatters. She had picked it out that morning they had gone for ice cream and was wearing it to show her sense of style.

The ice cream parlor was such a distant memory now. It seemed like it had been years ago that she and Len had raced each other to the shop from the drug store. Len had won, but Luka had already been waiting for them, her popsicle already in hand. It seemed like the memory of Miku coming late due to traffic was from a whole other lifetime. That very traffic, of course, had been caused by the police trying to solve the zombie situation. They hadn't known at the time. All of it, even Len opening his mouth to show them his half eaten food, seemed impossible now.

Maybe that was because it was. There was no way to drive now, the roads were littered with cars and corpses. There was no ice cream, nobody was alive to scoop the ice cream or work the register. All of the ice cream was probably melted or eaten by scavengers by now.

"Rin?" Yuki's sweet whisper of a voice brought her back to the present.

"Huh?" Rin asked drearily, she was just realizing how tired she was.

"Rin, you're crying," Yuki informed her. "What's wrong?"

Rin felt her cheeks and realized that they were covered in random wet streaks. She roughly wiped them away.

"It's nothing," her voice sounded strangled "I was just….thinking about my friends,"

"Did they die?" Yuki's face was full of seriousness.

The question surprised Rin. She wasn't expecting a nine year old girl to ask about the death of anyone, even people she didn't know. She stared at the little girl for a moment before she looked toward where the setting sun had just been.

"Yeah," she answered in monotone.

Yuki turned in the same direction as Rin.

"I feel the same way about my mama and papa."

Rin looked at her, awaiting explanation. And explain she did.

"When this all happened, I was at school, so I had no idea what was happening to them. My papa worked in one of those big office buildings; I don't know what he does. Something about math and boring stuff like that. My mama worked in a gym as one of the people who teach other people how to exercise. I had no idea if they were okay or not, so I was really worried. When Hiyama Sensei and I ran away from the school, we saw a lot of those things. None of them looked like regular people, their skin was all rotten and greyish and their hair was falling out. Some of them look even grosser. I couldn't help wondering if….if any of those things were my parents."

Rin was silent. She curled up and hugged her knees, looking down at the gray cement. She couldn't help but think of Len.

"I watched my brother turn into one of those things," Rin confided. "He didn't look that different, but probably because he wasn't dead when he turned into it." Admittedly, Len wasn't really Rin's brother, but she was too tired to explain the whole mirror image, same person thing. She didn't really think that Yuki would understand anyway.

"That sounds really terrible." Yuki said sympathetically "I saw my best friend get eaten by those things. It scared me really bad and I was really sad. Hiyama Sensei kept telling me that she would be okay, but I knew he was lying. I'm nine, not four. I know that when you get ripped apart like that, you die," There were tears dripping from Yuki's eyes now. "He keeps looking at me and talking to me like I'm a little kid, but I'm not. I can handle it,"

Rin looked back at the horizon.

"You don't have to want to grow up so fast," Rin said wisely "I'm not even ready to grow up, and I'm five years older than you. But in a world like this, I guess it's a smart thing to do. Your teacher just wants to protect you from what's out there; he doesn't want you to get hurt. You're very lucky to have someone who cares about you that much, Yuki. There's nobody like that left for me." She stuck her legs out and let them dangle over the edge of the roof, still safely out of a zombie's reach.

"Did your brother care about you that much?" Yuki asked.

Rin took a minute to think about that. Had Len cared about her like that? He hadn't had any time to prove himself around the zombies, due to his injury and sudden on take of illness that placed him in a coma. Her mind wandered back to the normal days. She thought about how Len had always been by her side, supporting her through whatever choices she made. He had always cared for her and been there as a friend when she was upset in some way. She had of course done the same for him; they had been together their entire lives. He, despite the truth, had been the brother to her that she had never wanted. Why had she never wanted that? Because if she had a brother, he might replace Len. She smiled at the happy memories of his life, and knew that even in death he seemed to be supporting her through everything she did.

"Yeah," Rin said, smiling as more tears trickled down her round cheeks "Yeah he did."

Yuki smiled. "We both had our boys to protect us."

"No," Rin corrected, shaking her head "We still have them protecting us. Len is always with me, even though he died. We may have left his body buried behind the restaurant, but I know that he's always with me in soul and spirit. When we were kids, I asked Len if he liked looking exactly like me, even though he was a boy. He told me that nothing mattered about what we looked like, as long as we were together. That was when we made a promise; we said we would never leave each other, even if something happened to one of us. We never could have predicted that we would be separated so soon, but the promise still reigns true."

"Len?" Yuki asked "Was that his name?"

Rin nodded.

"That's such a nice name." she complimented. "Short and easy to remember. One syllable. Just like Rin." She smiled up at Rin. Rin returned it with her own goofy grin. Yuki giggled. "I wish I could have met Len, he seems so nice,"

"In a way, you already have," Rin informed her. Yuki gave her a strange look, so she explained "You see, Len and are, in a way, sort of the same person. And because we're always together, by meeting me, you've met him also,"

Yuki smiled a funny little smile, as if she didn't quite understand, but she didn't care because Rin was happy. Seeing other people smiling always made Yuki feel good inside, like she was tapping into their happiness and adding it to her own.

It was so nice, the two of them sharing family and friend stories. Both of them had kept those feelings they had bottled up inside their bodies, not sharing how they really felt. Talking their troubles through had helped both of them greatly. It was like they had learned more about themselves then they had about each other.

"Hey Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think….my parents, are with me? Just like Len is with you?"

Rin grinned even more broadly.

"Definitely. Whether they're alive or dead, they will always be with you. And you will always be with them. You don't have to be the same person to be two halves of a whole. Well, I guess in your case it would be three thirds, but you get the picture. Every person is a piece of their family, and no family is complete without the child," She patted Yuki's back.

"Thanks. Oh, and Rin?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have a hug?"

"Of course you can."

Yuki reached out, and Rin pulled her into an embrace so kind and friendly, it was as if they were two long lost siblings that had found each other after a lifetime of living apart. It wasn't just Rin comforting Yuki; the small girl was giving her share of comfort to the fourteen year old that had lost everything.

It was a moment to be remembered.

If only it could have lasted forever.

* * *

**Okay, so I didn't get 500 views. But 498 is close enough! So this is actually quite a bit longer than usual, so tell me if you like it, and I might write more this length!**

* * *

**You know what time it is by now.**

**Is Yuki's dialogue appropriate for her age? Or is her way of speaking too mature?**

**Where did Lily go?**

**Will Lily ever return to the main group?**

**Do you think Yuki's cute?**

**Was I right to change the rating to M? Someone told me I should when I asked last time.**

**Was that sort of emotional style a good change? Or should I just bring on the gore?**

**Do you feel bad for Yuki or Rin? Why or why not?**

**Are my questions worth answering or are they just irritating?**

**Should I continue this story for much longer? Yes it has to end at some point.**

**Where are Yuki, Kiyoteru, Luka, and Rin going? Where will they end up?**

**Why is Yuki so open all of a sudden? Could it have anything to do with the man who attacked her?**

**Was the man who attacked a random stranger, or someone significant?**

**Do you notice any mistakes in my writing?**

**Who here likes cereal? IT IS THE BREAKFAST OF THE GODS I TELL YOU!**

**Leave your answers and any suggestions you have to better my writing skills. I won't threaten you this time!**

**Forever yours,**

** H.A.H.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rin felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see Luka bending over her. It was dark, but the moonlight was shining directly on Luka's face, revealing her tired expression and dark circles under her eyes.

"Sorry to wake you," she said "But it's your watch."

"It's alright," Rin replied sleepily "I wasn't sleeping anyway. Sleeping on cement is more uncomfortable than anything we've done yet."

"You didn't share a bed with Miku and Gumi," Luka pointed out "They did some weird stuff in their sleep,"

Rin laughed and stood up, stretching. She pulled on her jacket and grabbed the rifle from where Luka had left it and kneeled on the concrete, aiming it over the edge and peering through the scope.

Luka sat down where Rin had just been and tried to get comfortable, but it was just as hard as Rin had said. She ended up settling for just lying on her back and staring up at the stars. Wow, how long had it been since she'd done that? With everything that had been going on, she hadn't even thought about the cosmos. She remembered a time when, whenever she was mad at Miku (or anyone else for that matter), she would climb to the roof of their house and sleep the night up there. She would climb out of the window of her room and up a tree that had rested just outside of it. Miku never discovered where she went when she was mad, and she never would.

Poor Miku, Luka missed her more than anyone. They had been housemates, living together for as long as they could remember. Luka was older that Miku, despite the contrary belief due to their song Scissoroid. Miku had always been the one to play the stubborn younger sister, and Luka the playful older one. They weren't actually sisters, but they had liked to think of themselves as such. They had done so much together; they went to movies, played video games, went shopping, and they even went to the gym together. They did a lot with Rin and Len too, but sometimes they had just liked it to be the two of them.

Of course, they didn't do everything together; that was why Luka had arrived at the ice cream place before Miku had. There had been times when they just wanted time to themselves or with other people, like when Luka and Gakupo had gone out three years ago. They had been friends for years, and they'd both had a sort of crush on each other the whole time. So when Gakupo had asked Luka out for the first time, it had been like one of those romantic comedies where best friends fell in love. Or, at least, that was how Luka had felt. After a year of going out, they had realized how strangely awkward it was to be going out with one of your closest friends. Gakupo had pulled Luka aside and told her that it just wasn't going to work out. There and then they decided that they would just pretend that the entire relationship had never happened and just go on being friends. So that was just what they did, and everything went back to normal. But the entire time, Luka had felt as if she was missing something. Although on the outside, they acted as if it had never happened, she knew that things would never be the same as they had been before. Luka knew that, deep down, she still liked Gakupo and wanted to be his girlfriend. It was a hopeless crush, but she couldn't help it.

But when she heard that he had been killed, she immediately felt so…empty. It was like that small bit of hope to get him back had been all that was filling her up and holding her together, but it had just fallen away like that. Inside she had panicked, and she immediately began searching for the nearest thing to fill that void, which just so happened to be an anger toward Kaito. She convinced herself that she was furious with him for killing Gakupo and being the fault of Miku's death, but in reality she had just needed something to take the place of her obliterated hope that not only would Gakupo be with her, but that he was also alive. She had let Kaito die not for Gakupo and Miku, but for her own selfish reasons.

She just hadn't wanted to fall apart.

Luka was different from Rin. She wasn't convinced that her best friend or her ex-boyfriend would be with her forever, she had just accepted that they were…dead. They still mattered to her, but she needed to stay strong and move on.

Suddenly her conversation with Miku at the first safe house came back to her. It had been three weeks ago, but she remembered it more clearly than anything. She had told Miku that, if she knew Gakupo was dead, she would be able to carry on and continue fighting, despite the loss. She had meant it with everything she had at the time, but what about now? Did she feel the same way? She had said it before she knew of his death, so she hadn't been able to speak from personal experience. But moving on like that was much easier said than done; Luka now realized that.

She sighed and closed her large blue eyes, and, despite the hard cement, was asleep in minutes.

…

Luka awoke to the sound of gunshots. She raised her head to see Kiyoteru holding the rifle.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, rubbing her eyes "I thought we were keeping our location a secret?"

"That isn't me!" he objected. Luka came up and crouched next to him. "Look!" He pointed to the roof of a large hotel across the street. Luka squinted and could make out three figures standing up there.

"Give me the gun!" Luka demanded. Kiyoteru didn't argue with her, he just forked over the hunting rifle. Luka peered through the scope at the figures on the roof to see a tall girl with lavender pigtails, who was shooting some sort of military style gun that Luka was unfamiliar with. There was also a girl with milky white skin and long black hair that flowed down past her hips. It was surprisingly longer than Luka's hair! The third figure had their back turned to Luka, and the other girls, but it could be seen from the figure that it was a girl. She had a short black bob and was holding another machine gun.

"It's a bunch of girls," Luka reported. "It looks like they're shooting the zombies, and the one with the gun looks pretty happy about it. Wait, no! She's just shooting straight down! It's like she wants the zombies' attention!"

"Not like they can get to them," Kiyoteru pointed out. "That hotel is massive."

"No time to question it," Luka said, throwing Kiyoteru's backpack at him. "We need to move while they're distracted."

Luka grabbed her sword and shook Rin awake. The blond looked at her strangely, but didn't ask questions. She just grabbed her backpack full of clothing and water bottles and ran to the edge of the roof. Kiyoteru and Yuki soon joined her and Luka, holding the bags they had been trusted with.

"We're only two stories up," Rin said "We can slide down that post there," She pointed to the closest street lamp. Luka and Yuki nodded. Rin bent down to the small girl "Get on Yuki," she motioned to her back, and Yuki did as she was ordered. "Now, hold on tight and don't let go no matter what."

Rin leaped from the roof and hit the pole. She hurriedly wrapped her arms and legs around it, as if she was giving it a full body hug. She then proceeded to slide down like a fireman with a very long pole. Luka was next, with the rifle strapped on her back and the sword in her belt. She easily completed the task and was down with Yuki and Rin in seconds. Kiyoteru looked at them with fear.

"Just jump you big wuss!" Luka shouted. Kiyoteru jumped and grabbed onto the pole. But instead of sliding down, he gripped it for dear life and began slowly shimmying his way down. Luka shook her head and shouted at him again to hurry up.

"Quit your shouting!" he cried "You'll attract them!"

"Doubtful," Luka shouted back "I can hardly hear anything over those machine guns.

Kiyoteru sighed and slid the rest of the way down. It was still sort of dark, so they had the advantage of sight over the zombies. They ran as quietly as they could in the direction they'd been heading in. Luka led the way, leading them down the street and into an alley. There Kiyoteru and Yuki fell down gasping; they weren't used to running that far. Luka and Rin could relate, remembering the first day when Kaito had made them run like hell.

"Who were…" Rin began to say.

"Those people shooting to help you freaks escape?" a voice asked. They all jumped and looked over to see the three girls standing on a dumpster not three feet away.

The girl with the lavender pigtails hopped down and approached them. Rin and Luka tightened their grips on their weaponry.

"Yeah, that was us," she lavender headed girl said with a smirk. She held out her hand "I'm Yuzuki Yukari, but just call me by my given name, Yukari."

Luka, who had been offered the hand, ignored it. She just gave Yukari a suspicious look, like she thought she would attack them at any moment. Yukari laughed and put her hand down.

"Not the type for handshakes, eh?" she asked with a laugh as smooth as silk. She smiled at Luka's scowl and got a look on her face as if she knew something Luka didn't. "Maybe you like…" she leaped forward and pounced on Luka, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Hugs!" Luka twisted out of the hug and spun around to Yukari's backside, pulling out Gakupo's sword and holding it at the lavender haired girl's throat. She grabbed her arms with her free hand and held them behind her back.

"Try anything funny like that again, and you WILL lose your stupid little head; I promise you." Luka growled. "_Never_ touch me! You hear that?"

"Whoa there," the girl with the black bob hopped down to join her friend. "Someone has contact issues."

"Who are you supposed to be?" Rin sneered, making sure Kiyoteru and Yuki stayed behind her.

"Why are you keeping the only man you have hidden away?" the girl with the bob laughed "Shouldn't he be the one up here making all the demands?"

"I asked you a question!" Rin glared, pulling out her gun "Those military machine guns you have may be better than my pistol, but they're pretty useless at such a close range,"

The black haired girl didn't look any more threatened than her friend. She just smirked, her eyes flashing with mischief.

"My name is Lola," she said, finally answering Rin. "And who may you be?"

Rin glared at her for not giving her full name.

"Kagamine Rin, formerly CV02VA of Crypton Corporation." Rin answered blatantly.

"What?" Lola asked "You a robot or something?"

"Something like that," Rin's glare never faltered as she said this. "But I am almost exactly the same as a human. Over there with the sword is Megurine Luka, formerly CV03 of Crypton Corporation,"

"Why formerly?" Lola asked.

The searing heat of Rin's glare intensified.

"That's pretty obvious, isn't it?" She gripped her gun so hard her knuckles turned white. "The whole world's gone to shit."

"Why are you so calm?" Kiyoteru asked the question that they were all thinking.

"Haven't you noticed yet?" Yukari asked smilingly. "Our friend is up there pointing her gun at all of you. Try anything and you're good as dead."

Rin, Yuki, Luka, and Kiyoteru looked up to see the girl –no, woman was a better description- who hadn't hopped off of the dumpster yet had Rin in her sights, and her finger on the trigger. Rin sighed in frustration and put her gun away. Luka released Yukari and tucked her sword away into her belt.

The woman lowered the gun and leaped down with true gracefulness to join her companions.

"Call me Mew," the woman's voice had a more powerful and superior tone to it than even Meiko's had flaunted. Her arms were tattooed and her eyes looked built for black eyeliner and mascara, but nobody had time for makeup in a time like this. She her physique was curvy, but no so much that is was absurd to women or distracting to men. She wore an old, worn leather jacket over a white tank top and black jeans. She had black combat boots that were heavily scuffed and covered in mud. Her eyes were a deep black, almost like two pieces of coal. Her skin was a perfect milky white that could be seen on no one other than Snow White, who only resided in fairy tales.

Yukari was dressed in a soft black hoodie with graffiti designs. It was unzipped, revealing her graphic tee with a design of cats on it. She wore grey sweatpants that were covered in mud and full of holes. Her ripped grey converse shoes were just as muddy as Mew's shoes, and her hands were just as bad. Her bright purple eyes were much more playful than Mew's pieces of coal. She wore a dark red beanie to keep her head warm and had matching mittens.

Lola's purple eyes weren't as bright as Yukari's; they had more of a rich, warm hue to them that was just beautiful. Her black bob was a frizzy, tangled mess similar to Rin's. But it was obvious that her hair was straight and fell perfectly, unlike Rin's thick, wild hair. She had a nice tan to her complexion, but she wasn't so dark that it looked fake. She was wearing a black hoodie that read "I Luv Japan" across the chest and a knee length ruffled skirt. It was the skirt that caught everyone's attention. Nobody bothered to wear skirts anymore. Sure, they were fashionable and proper for women to wear, but in a time like that, none of that mattered. She also wore a pair of high-tops and black leggings.

"Why the skirt?" Luka asked rudely.

"It's easy to move and fight in," Lola answered simply "Way easier than jeans." She glanced at Rin's deep blue jeans, hoping she wouldn't notice.

She did. "What? There are old. I can run in them just fine."

"Oh, so when we saw you running just now you were going full speed? I'm surprised one of those things hasn't gotten you yet," Lola smirked, turned her back to Rin, and added "Slow ass,"

Rin lost it. She launched herself at Lola, tackling the girl from behind. They hit the ground hard, Rin repeatedly punching Lola. But she soon got the upper hand when she knocked Rin off of her and threw herself on top in a sort of body slam.

It didn't take long for it to turn into a full blown wrestling match.

"Should we stop them?" Kiyoteru asked.

Luka and Yukari simultaneously laughed.

"Rin can handle this," Luka said "She's been through much worse."

"Same with Lola," Yukari agreed. "Usually I'd bet on her, but in this case it looks like we may be heading toward a stalemate."

Luka snickered.

"Stop laughing and help me you idiot!" Rin shouted.

"Oh cut it out you guys," Yukari giggled "This is stupid anyways. She's just trying to push your buttons kid; it's what Lola does best.

Luka sighed and bent down to break up the argument, prying a pummeling Rin off of a defending Lola.

"I thought you were tired of seeing people fight?" Luka teased as Yukari helped Lola up.

"Oh shut up you big twit." Rin said, but Luka knew she didn't care.

"Why did you bother to save us?" Kiyoteru asked; unlike Luka and Rin, he wasn't being overly paranoid.

"It was Mew's idea." Lola said "I honestly didn't want to bother, but these two were up for it. I thin Yukari just wanted to test out her new toy; she's the most trigger happy person I've ever met."

Rin looked at Mew in surprise. She had seemed like a very stern, uncaring, sensible person. But in that particular moment, she seemed the opposite. She had seen four struggling survivors on the roof of an old store and decided to help them. THAT was rather odd. For a second, Rin thought she had just read her wrong, and then she remembered the way she had held to machine gun just a few moments ago. She had been poised, ready to strike, with her gun aimed directly at Rin's head. Had it been out of maliciousness? Or just concern for her friends' safety?

"Why, Mew?" Kiyoteru asked, stepping forward. Yuki remained where she was, looking at the tall woman strangely.

"I thought it would be only customary, for a girl to save her cousin," Mew explained.

"Mewey!" Yuki squealed, running over to Mew to hug her. "I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure. And I didn't want to be wrong, because you might've laughed at me."

Mew smiled at the little girl and hugged her back, stroking her short, pigtailed hair.

Luka looked at them strangely, but was silent. She wasn't one to interrupt a reunion between two cousins that had believed each other dead. She was just happy to see Yuki smiling for once.

Mew's friends looked just as confused as Yuki's.

"Cousin?" Yukari asked "You never told us you had a cousin!"

"You never asked," Mew smiled at her, then turned back to Yuki. "You want some pudding Yuki?"

"You have some!?"

"Sure," Mew reached into her backpack and pulled out four chocolate pudding cups. She handed one to Yuki and tossed the rest to Kiyoteru, Rin, and Luka in turn. They each greedily opened the cups and practically inhaled the sweet chocolate pudding. It was especially amazing for Rin and Luka, who had been eating mostly rice, beans, and the occasional stale energy bar for weeks now.

"Where did you get these?" Yuki asked her cousin.

"There was a house we were in a little while back. The pantry had tons of these." Mew explained with a satisfied smile on her face.

Yuki's grin wavered, then faded away.

"You stole from someone's house?"

They were all silent for a moment. Since the apocalypse had begun, Rin and Luka had given up on caring about possessions. They went wherever they needed to, took whatever they could, and destroyed whatever was necessary. There were no more laws, no more officials to enforce those laws, and very few people left to break those laws.

"We had to," Mew finally answered "Nobody was there and we needed food. So yes, we did steal it out of someone's house, but it was because we had to."

There was a long and awkward silence. There was some shuffling around and twisting of hair, but no actual conversation.

Finally, Yukari broke the silence.

"You guys wanna come back to our place? We're staying on the roof of that hotel we were shooting from."

"Yeah! Yeah we do!" Yuki cried.

"Hold on Yuki," Kiyoteru stopped her excited jumping for a moment. "Luka's the leader here, she needs to decide what we will do. Well, Luka?"

Luka's face turned a deeper red than the striped on Rin's sweater.

"What makes you think I'm the leader?" She demanded "Meiko was our leader until she died for you two. Now we don't have one, we're a united democracy."

Kiyoteru laughed. "Alright then. Let's do this democratically. All in favor of going to the hotel?"

Kiyoteru, Yuki, and Luka all raised their hands.

"All opposed?"

Rin scowled at Lola before roughly jerking her hand in the hair.

"So it's settled then," Mew observed "You guys are coming with us." She leaped onto the dumpster and pulled herself into an open window.

Lola shot Rin a triumphant look before following her companion's lead. Yukari followed next, then Kiyoteru with Yuki, then Luka. But just when Luka climbed into the window, she turned to see her friend standing stubbornly on the ground, her arms crossed over her striped-sweater clad chest.

"Oh come on, Rin," Luka said "She was just teasing. You and I both know that you run faster than any of us."

Rin sighed with exasperation and followed everyone else's lead.=, shaking her head at Luka's ignorance.

…

They had landed in a stairwell. The climbed the steps to the roof and leaped into the roof of the building next door.

"Great," Kiyoteru mumbled. "More roof hopping,"

They moved from building to building, sometimes jumping, sometimes climbing onto ledges or platforms that were above them. The entire time Yuki was asking her cousin a million questions, and Mew gleefully gave her the answers. They were obviously rejoicing in seeing each other, but they didn't seem to let anyone else into their conversation. Luka had struck up a discussion with Yukari about the gun she had and how she had gotten her hands on it, and Kiyoteru had started talking to Lola about what it was like living with trigger happy psychos.

Rin, on the other hand, was lagging behind. She was completely silent, not speaking to anyone. She was analyzing the three girls they had just come by to see what kind of people they were, and how well they would treat them. She kept an especially close eye on Mew, who had first appeared serious and firm, but now seemed open and kind. Had it been a façade meant to make them feel intimidated? Or could her sudden change of attitude have something to do with Yuki? _Duh! _Rin smacked her own forehead. _Of course it has something to do with Yuki! How would you feel if you suddenly found Len again, after you had been convinced he was dead? _

"Rin? Rin? EARTH TO RIN?" Luka shouted.

Rin snapped out of her thoughts by her pink haired friend's shouts.

"Huh? What?"

"We're here."

Rin looked around her. There was a set up that resembled a campsite on the hotel roof. Three tents were set up, each a certain distance from the other two. It seemed that the girls liked their privacy. There was a ton of supplies stacked neatly in the center of the space, and a small, homemade fire pit that wasn't lit, but had obviously been used considering how sooty it was. Five (probably stolen) folding chairs were set up around the fire pit; more than enough for three, but not nearly enough for seven. There was a variety of weapons all laid out in a line, ranging from a baseball bat to a shotgun.

"Is it just you guys up here?" Luka asked, looking around.

"Yep," Yukari nodded. "It's a bit more lonely than I'd like, but it's what we got."

Luka nodded and started wandering around. Lola, obviously tired, went over to her tent to take a nap.

"Mind if I use one of those chairs?" Kiyoteru asked Mew "My legs feel like rubber right now,"

"Of course!" Mew said cheerily.

He smiled gratefully and went to sit down. Yuki walked with Mew toward her tent, and Yukari set her shotgun next to the other weapons before heading over to the supplies to find something to eat.

Everyone had found something to do, except Rin that is. She stood there for a moment, pretending to watch the sunrise, until she saw Yuki and Mew enter the tent. Then she walked over there, trying to make herself look as nonchalant and uncaring as she could. She looked down at her shoe and pretended it was untied just as she reached the mouth of the tent. Like it mattered, nobody was paying her any attention. She listened as well as she could to the conversation inside the tent.

…

"Would you like some juice Yuki?" Mew asked the tiny girl thoughtfully.

"No thanks Mew," she said happily.

"Alright," Mew sat down next to her cousin. "So, who was that you were traveling with? They didn't kidnap you did they?"

"No!" Yuki cried "That was my sensei, Hiyama Sensei, and two girls we met yesterday, Rin and Luka!"

"Are they being good to you?" Mew interrogated "Do they give you enough to eat and give you good clothes to wear? One of those girls must've given you this shirt, didn't they? It looks terrible! The way the sleeves are torn will leave loose threads handing off, and they could get caught on things! As for the way it's tied up at the waist, it must be choking you!"

"Not really," Yuki mumbled "Rin did it for me, but I guess you're right."

"Oh, I knew it must've been her. She just seems so DAFT! She certainly isn't responsible enough to be taking care of children! You shouldn't be with these people, Yuki! Your sensei does know some things about raising a child, he is an educator of people your age, but he is obviously not qualified to be taking care of a kid on his own!"

"He's not on his own!" Yuki pointed out "He has Luka and Rin!"

Mew snorted "Yeah, I bet they've been doing a whole lot to help you out. Did either of them ever act like a mama to you? Did they put bandages on your cuts or brush your hair? Did they ever tell you it was alright when you got scared?"

"Well…" Yuki trailed off.

"I didn't think so. I bet they even said bad words in front of you! They have no clue what they're doing! What were they, raised by wolves?"

"Rin talked to me about how I felt about missing Mama and Papa!" Yuki told her cousin "She was really nice about it and gave me a hug!"

"But did she ever give you pudding?" Mew said persuasively "Or offer you juice?"

"Well…." Yuki began.

"If I was taking care of you, I would let you have pudding and juice whenever you wanted! I would brush your hair and help you when you got hurt. And if you ever get scared, I'll be right by your side to tell you it's alright." Mew promised.

"Why are we talking about this?" Yuki asked "We're all together now, and I don't need someone taking care of me! I can handle myself as long as I'm with all of you! Besides, the more people we have, the better right?"

"Why Yuki! Who has you growing up so fast? I bet one of those nasty girls told you it was the smart thing to do didn't they? Well I would never do such a thing! I don't care what takes over the world, I'll give you all the time you need to grow up!"

"I guess." Yuki mumbled "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course baby!"

"When I was talking to Rin about Mama and Papa, she was real nice about it and all; she even told me about what happened to her twin brother. But the thing was, I never really felt better after the talk. I smiled and made it look like I did, but on the inside nothing changed. It was like I was the same as I had felt when I was thinking about them at school. I even asked her to hug me, but her arms were cold, even in her sweater. She seemed like she was sort of pretending to be nice to me, even though she didn't care. But when I talk to you, Mew." She flashed her cousin a big, fake smile "I feel just like I'm talking to my Mama!"

"You can always talk to me if something upsets you, Yuki." Mew said understandingly.

"Thanks Mew!" Yuki said happily "You've always been like a big sister to me!"

Mew smiled and hugged her cousin. The embrace was soft and gentle, unlike Rin's firm and powerful hug. When the hug ended, Mew lifted the tent flap to go outside.

All they saw was Rin running away, and all they heard was her loud sobs.

"Oh no! She heard us!" Yuki cried "I didn't mean to make her feel bad!"

"She was the one who was eaves dropping, she deserved to hear it," Mew said stubbornly. Yuki shrugged and turned around to grab a juice box. When she turned back around, she thought she saw something in Mew's face change, just for a split second. Yuki shook her head and told herself that she must have imagined it.

But she could've sworn that, just for a moment, Mew had been looking at Rin with a sort of pleased smirk, like she had won some sort of victory over her.

* * *

**Okay, if less than three people answer these, I'm just gonna stop with the questions.**

**QUESTION TIME**

**Why is Mew so determined to win Yuki over?**

**Is the group's new situation good for them? Why or why not?**

**How did Mew know so many specifics about Rin's and Yuki's conversation?**

**Why would Yuki say what she said about Rin?**

**Was introducing new characters so soon after Yuki and Kiyoteru came in a good idea, or am I overloading your brain?**

**Where did Lola and Yukari get the military machine guns?**

**Are there any moments in this story that you can compare to any Vocaloid songs?**

**Did you forget about Lily? Probably not...**

**Is my word choice getting repetitive? I just feel like I'm using a lot of the same words and phrases over and over again, but nobody else seems to notice.**

**If you like cereal, what kinds do you like? (Personally I like Special K Red Berry, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cheerios -I grew up with them-)**

**Should I start my next story soon? Or should I wait until I'm done with this one?**

* * *

**Thank you to WhatGoesUpGoesDown, Dreamer520, and BlueStarMagic for giving consistent reviews. You guys help and influence me a lot!**

**Stay Awesome!**

**-H.A.H.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rin ran to the west edge of the roof, the one facing the alley, and sat down on the edge. She pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face in them. Her sobs were quiet enough not to draw attention to herself, but they were uncontrolled and passionate all the same. She cried herself out for more than a few minutes. When she felt she couldn't cry anymore, she started roughly wiping at her eyes.

"Stop crying, stupid." She mumbled to herself as she harshly rubbed the streams of tears away. "It makes perfect sense, so you don't need to be a baby about it."

Rin had thought it over, and it did make sense. Mew was Yuki's cousin; she had known the girl her entire life. They knew each other well, and Mew just wanted her safe. Rin could understand that.

She, on the other hand, didn't know anything about kids. She was tough, prepared, and could shoot a gun. She was fourteen, and had no idea what it meant to be a mother, but apparently Mew did. She hadn't thought her conversation with Yuki was unhelpful, or that her hug had been rough and cold. But Yuki apparently had.

Rin didn't know how to hug a kid. She and Len had been the youngest of everyone they were friends with, and she had been the shortest. She only had experience with playfully rough hugs and tight, strong embraces. She had tried to hug Yuki as nicely as she could, but apparently it hadn't worked out too well. She, personally, had found the embrace nice and comforting. But the feeling hadn't been mutual, she now knew that.

"You alright?" a voice from behind asked. Rin sighed, she'd come to recognize that voice all too quickly.

"I'm fine Kiyoteru." She snapped without turning around.

He sat down next to her and tried to make eye contact with her, but she just turned her head away.

"Rin, I'm a teacher. Reading children's actions is part of my job."

"Nothing's wrong!" Rin shouted "There's nothing wrong with some bitch I hardly know judging me about things she doesn't know shit about! There's nothing wrong with a little girl pretending to be my friend but telling people how crappy I am at babysitting behind my back! I tried to help that ungrateful little..."

"Stop it." Kiyoteru said sternly. Rin looked at him with a mix of surprise and anger. Since when was he so bold? And what made him think he could interrupt her?

"What did you say to me?" Rin demanded, her eyes glowing with hate.

"I told you to stop." He returned her stare, but his look was one of…Rin wasn't sure. He didn't look angry exactly, or spiteful for that matter. But he had the same look Len had once gotten the time a bunch of bullies had ganged up on her in a gas station. Just not as passionate or violent.

…

_"Leave me alone!" a younger Rin shouted._

_ "Why, are you CRYING Rin-Chan?" an older girl snickered. "Is little Rinny actually a little WUSS?"_

_ "Go away!" Rin cried. Knowing her duplicate was near, she screamed. "LEN! LEN!"_

_ "Aw! Look, she can't even fight for herself!" a girl with curly pink pigtails giggled. "She can't do anything about THIS!" She kicked one of Rin's shins and she went down. "Or THIS!" she kicked with all her might into the struggling blonde's stomach. Rin coughed as the wind was knocked right out of her. The girl's friend laughed._

_ "You stupid little slut," the first girl sneered. "Where's your dumbass boyfriend?"_

_ "Not….my…." Rin gasped._

_ "Oh shut up you idiot!" the pink haired one stomped on her wrist with horrible crunch. "We know what you're doing, you thick-skulled whore! But you just keep doing it don't you?"_

_ "What are you talking about?" Rin sobbed. "I don't….understand."_

_ "Yes you do!" the first girl shouted. "If you don't answer, I'll have Teto crush your pathetic little skull."_

_ The pink pigtailed girl, who must have been Teto, started giggling uncontrollably. She wasn't very strong, but her black leather boots were enforced with metal, and were causing Rin great pain._

_ Rin closed her eyes, waiting for the crushing impact of the boot on her skull._

_ "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO HER?"_

_ Rin opened her eyes weakly. She saw that Len had slammed Teto and the other girl into the wall of the convenience store part of the gas station. He was beating the shit out of them._

_ "TETO! TEI!" He screamed "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH HER!"_

_ The two girls were screaming bloody murder. They were shocked at his sudden aggressiveness. _

_ "Why do you fight for her so much Lenny?" Tei said sweetly as she tried in vain to dodge his blows. "Why are you even doing…"_

_ "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID BITCH! I'M NOT DOING ANYONE!" Len lifted his leg and kicked her square in the chest. Tei's face contorted in pain._

_ "Let's go!" Teto cried, grabbing her friend's hand. The two of them raced away from the gas station, though Tei rather reluctantly. Even though Len had beaten her to a pulp, she still had a monster crush on him._

_ Len bent over his bruising double._

_ "Rin? RIN? Dammit Rin! We need to get you to a hospital!"_

…

Rin stared at Kiyoteru's expression, and suddenly burst into tears again. He had seemed like such a docile and passive man, but when somebody insulted his little girl, he was ready to face even Rin, who, since that day at the gas station, had heavily practiced hand to hand combat and self-defense. It was unfortunately useless on zombies, but very effective on humans, especially humans who got in her way. He was reminding her so much of Len, and that alone was enough to drag her back to the reality of her situation. Yuki's loyalty didn't matter; As long as they all stayed alive, she could side with all the multi-personality vipers she wanted.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning to face Kiyoteru. "And I really mean it. I shouldn't have said those things about Yuki. She was just turning to her cousin, someone she knew."

"I don't know what you overheard, Rin." Kiyoteru said, still holding her gaze. "But I know that it has something to do with Yuki choosing mew over you. But what you just said, I know you believed it."

Rin stood, wiping her tears away, and bowed to Kiyoteru. He had truly helped her, but not in the way he thought. Just by acting like Len, he had dragged her out of her stupid imaginary conflict with Mew and returned her to the real situation. They had food, weapons, and shelter. It was rational to remain where they were, even if it meant watching Yuki and Mew together every day. It wasn't like they had any alternative.

"Thank you Kiyoteru," she said "I'm an idiot."

And with that, Rin walked away to find Luka.

…

That night, when everyone was eating around the -now lit- fire pit, Rin ate in silence. She sat between Luka, who spent the whole time stuffing herself with every bit of food they would allow her to have, and Yukari, who just kept trying to start a conversation with Rin. Rin just wasn't in the mood to have a conversation with Yukari, but the purple-haired goof didn't take the hint. Kiyoteru was in amidst a deep conversation with Yuki, and Lola was admiring Gakupo's samurai sword and pestering Luka with questions about it.

"What kind of metal is this?" she ran her dirty fingers along the bloodstained blade. "I swear this is some sort of enhanced steel! But, like, REALLY enhanced with something strong! Do you know, Luka?"

"No," Luka said in between bites of canned vegetable soup. She had used the fire to heat it and was now actually enjoying something other than rice with beans. She didn't know much about the sword other than the fact that it was good for killing things.

"Rin?"

Rin turned to see Mew standing behind her with a slightly unnerving smile on her face.

"What?" Rin asked, swallowing a mouthful of tomato soup from a can.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she glanced at Luka, who was looking at Mew curiously.

"Uh, sure." Rin said nervously, looking at Luka for ideas. She just nodded and waved for her to follow Mew.

Rin stood up, setting her can of soup down, and followed Mew. They walked from the fire pit to Mew's tent. When Rin realized where they were going, she became slightly nervous.

"Is it that private?" she asked "Do we have to talk about it in your tent?"

"Yes," Mew answered without turning around. They reached the tent, and Mew held the flap open for Rin to enter. She looked at her with suspicion before entering the tent. What was mew up to?

When Mew crawled inside, there enough room for both girls to sit comfortably without touching at all. The tent was rather large, but the ceiling was low enough that neither of them could have stood up. There were several quilts covering the floor.

"Rin," Mew began. "How long have you been with Yuki and Mr. Hiyama?"

She noted the way she said "Mr. Hiyama" as if the fact that Rin called him by his given name was a horrible sin.

"Some friends of mine came across _Kiyoteru _and your cousin in an alley yesterday." Rin emphasized the man's first name, displaying to Mew that she would call the man whatever she pleased. Then she added "They both died saving those two."

"I'm sorry for your loss," those were the words that came out of Mew's mouth, but her ton implied that she wasn't sorry at all. "But what made you decide to keep them with you? They WERE the fault of your friends' deaths right?"

"It was no one's fault except the zombies'" Rin confirmed. She wasn't about to get caught in Mew's web of words like Yuki had.

"Well, how long do you plan to stay with us?" Mew asked.

"We haven't discussed that yet." Rin explained, staring into the girl's coal-like eyes. "It's like Luka said earlier, we're a team, and we make all of our decisions democratically."

"Even if that is how you function as a group, why is there no leader? There needs to be someone to organize and control the group's actions in a situation of emergency, where there is no time to vote."

"We told you already, our leader died." Rin's voice had gained a harsh edge at the thought of Meiko with the zombie bite on her shoulder, the poison already halfway to killing her after less than a minute of infection. "Nobody can replace her, so we didn't, and we won't. So don't suggest that it's time for a new leader."

"I wasn't going to." Mew smiled pleasantly, but Rin detected something underneath that. It was almost like resentment. "That was why I asked you how long you were staying. Let me inform you that you are welcome to stay as long as you like, as long as you abide by our rules."

"Rules?"

"There isn't much to it. It mainly means that you treat me like the leader, and follow my lead in any situation."

Rin was silent. She wanted to scream at Mew, to tell her that there was no way she would agree to that and that they were leaving immediately, but kept quiet before replying.

"I can't make that decision. We vote, and make our choices as a team."

"I can't force you to say yes to my offer, but I can recommend it strongly. We could use strong fighters like you and Luka, not to mention that Mr. Hiyama is very smart, despite his being an elementary school teacher. You would all be very useful here, and you would get your share of our food and your use of our weapons of course. You are free to speak with your friends and choose."

Rin nodded and left the tent.

…

"What?" Kiyoteru was stunned. "Who died and made her Queen?"

Rin had pulled Luka and Kiyoteru aside and told them the whole story. She had also shared her opinion on it and let them know where she stood in the situation.

"No idea," Rin shook her head "Though she seems to think it was Meiko. That girl's insane, guys, we can't make her our leader."

"It'd be an insult to Meiko," Kiyoteru agreed.

"What other option do we have?" Luka asked. "Before we came here, our numbers were dropping like flies. Here we have food and protection. They have weapons they got from a wrecked military chopper. You do know what that means don't you?"

Rin was silent.

"It means we don't have any help on the way from them." Luka continued. "This place is our best chance of survival. Even if we have to listen to Mew, we can't just go back out there. How long do you think it'll take before we're all dead?"

"I agree with Rin." Kiyoteru sided. "From what she told us, there isn't much of a chance of doing anything without her okay except leaving. She could do anything she wanted with us, or to us. Although the rational move would be to stay, I have considered the opposite after a bit of thought."

"Yukari seems fine, and I'm not sure about Lola yet," Rin said "But Mew can't be trusted. She went from some gun-slinging sniper to a nice lady who gives out pudding in a matter of seconds. Then I overheard her talking to Yuki in their tent, and she was trying to convince her that she was better for her than us. She was telling her that we don't know shit about babysitting."

"Wait," an idea popped into Kiyoteru's head. "What if Mew WANTS the three of us to leave, and that was why she told you she was in charge? She could have been telling Yuki all that crap just to get her prepared to choose Mew over us? She kept recommending you to stay, because she knew you would go against anything she said. That was also why she said she's the leader! She only saved us for Yuki and now wants to clean up the mess she brought in with her, the mess being us."

"God," Rin murmured "That girl is a genius. A selfish, manipulative genius, but a genius all the same. When she was talking to Yuki, she mentioned a bunch of things that I said that she couldn't have just known from guessing! She must have been following us and picking up information about how we were treating her cousin. We didn't meet her standards, so she staged the whole helping us off the roof thing to get our attention and they came in for the kill, metaphorically speaking. That was why it was Mew's idea to help us, and how she came up with the idea to fire gunshots to get their attention, and ours, and help us escape. She had plenty of time to think about it because she had been planning this since she started stalking us!"

"So do we stay?" Luka asked. "It's a better situation for us, and we would be screwing up her plans."

"It makes the most sense to me." Kiyoteru nodded. "Rin?"

"I hate that girl with everything I've got, but we don't really have much of a choice." Rin said after a moment of silence. "We should stay for a little while, and leave when it becomes too unbearable to deal with anymore."

…

They spent about three weeks until it became unbearable.

"Rin!" Mew was heard calling. "I need you!"

Rin sighed and dragged herself off the space next to Yukari where she slept. She rubbed her eyes and pulled on her sweater over her brown tank top. Then she snatched up her green denim jacket and pulled it on. She pulled on her jeans and grabbed her hair ribbon. She was left staring at it for a moment. She didn't really need it, because Yukari had given her some hair clips to keep her bangs away a couple weeks ago. It couldn't really make much sense under the ear muffs she'd been given after a winter raid a few days ago. And yet, she felt a sort of sentimental attachment to it, as if it were an old friend. It would feel like betrayal to that friend if she just left it in the tent.

It was around 6 in the morning, and halfway through November, so it was naturally freezing.

"Rin!" Mew called again, starting to sound annoyed.

"You better see what the princess wants," Yukari said sleepily, her eyes still closed. "She's waking everyone up."

Rin laughed. She had grown to love Yukari and her jokes. She and Lola were nothing like Mew and they loved to prank and joke about everyone, including each other. Rin smiled at her purple headed friend, pocketed her hair ribbon, and left the tent. She walked across the frost covered roof over to the fire pit, where Mew was waiting.

"Oh good, you're here." Mew nodded in approval.

"Where else would I be?" Rin said with a yawn. She wasn't a morning person.

A dark look flashed across Mew's pale face, momentarily replacing her slightly annoyed smile. But the look didn't last long, as Mew was very quick to smother her true emotions and wear the strange smile she had plastered onto her face.

"I need you to do something for me." Mew said.

"Okay," Rin said, rubbing her cold hands together in hope that it would provide some warmth to them. "Shoot."

"Last night, while I was on watch, I saw another one of those choppers." Mew said.

Rin froze.

"Like the ones we saw yesterday?" Rin asked, referring to the large fleet of American Military helicopters they had seen fling overhead. They had done all in their power to capture the attention of the pilots, but they had been ignored. They had obviously been on a mission too important to save a few survivors.

Mew nodded.

"But this one was different." She explained "Instead of flying off in the direction of the other helicopters, it landed on the roof of an apartment building over there." She pointed to the south, the direction they had come from when Rin, Luka, Kiyoteru, and Yuki had first been found. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"You want me to go over there and see if this dude will help us." Rin summarized. "But how are supposed to know if he can even help us? He probably landed for a reason, like his engine was screwed up or something."

"Then the plane would have been flying at an awkward angle." Mew reasoned "Or it would have been making sounds that were strange and different than the sounds the other helicopters made."

"Why me?" Rin asked. "Yukari and Luka are the better fighters, Kiyoteru's the smart one, and you and Lola have the talking skills."

"That's just it Rin," Mew smiled her sly smile. The one that wasn't a kind mask, but a face of genuine cruelty. "You're expendable. I don't want to waste any of my useful people on what may be a hopeless mission, so I'm sending you."

"No freaking way!" Rin protested. "That's it, I'm getting Kiyoteru and Luka, we're leaving!"

"Oh, so are as useless as I thought," Mew said as Rin turned to walk away. "I knew that you lacked more than babysitting skills. You aren't just weak and pathetic, you're a COWARD!"

Rin froze in her tracks. She dug her nails into her palms and didn't move an inch. A coward? Rin told herself she was just trying to push her buttons, that there was no use in listening to her. But she couldn't stop the memories of Len's illness that were overflowing the dam she had built up against them. She had been useless, just sitting there fretting over her duplicate's illness. She hadn't fought or gone searching for supplies or done anything useful other than watch over Len. Nobody had asked anything of her, most likely due to pity, and she had just stared at a boy who she had no chance of saving, but she convinced herself that she did. She had done nothing to save her friends, who ended up dying one by one. Ever since Len's death, she had promised herself that she would be as useful as she could.

Apparently, that hadn't worked. Was there anything she could do that none of the other people could? She could shoot a gun, but everyone except Yuki could do that. She could fight hand to hand, but that could disable, not kill. And considering that the zombies couldn't feel pain, it would be a useless effort.

Rin was angry. Not at Mew, she realized, but at herself. She had been completely useless and couldn't deny it. This was a mission that could save them all if it succeeded, but it was deadly with the oncoming cold. Mew had been right about her being expendable, so wasn't it for everyone else's wellbeing that she would do this?

Rin turned around slowly.

"You're right Mew," Rin said in monotone.

"Oh?" Mew smirked as she raised a thin black eyebrow.

"I'll do it." Rin nodded as she said it.

"Get some supplies and leave as soon as you can. I don't want anyone to see you; they might try to stop you out of worry for your safety." Was all Mew had to say to her. No "Good luck." No "I hope you'll make it." Not even an "I hope you don't freeze to death out there."

But Rin didn't argue. She just nodded and headed toward her tent.

"Where are you going?" Mew asked suspiciously.

"To get my bag." Rin said "It has my blanket and some extra clothes in it."

"I'll get it." Mew said. "Yukari might ask questions. Get together the food you think you'll need and one of the water bottles. Don't forget a gun." And with that she headed off to get Rin's backpack. Rin heard her mutter "Not like you ever change your clothes."

As soon as her back was turned, Rin scrambled to grab one of the pieces of paper that was being saved to fuel the fire and a thin piece of charcoal out of the fire pit. She quickly scribbled a note on the paper and slipped it under the entrance to Lola's and Luka's tent. She quickly flew back to the fire pit before Mew returned and began to do what she had been commanded to.

"Here" Mew dropped the backpack where Rin was kneeling. "I took a few of the clothes out so that you would be able to fit more food."

Rin nodded and peeked inside to make sure that Mew hadn't taken all of her clothes out before stuffing the food and two water bottles inside.

Mew nodded at her as she jumped down onto the slightly shorter building that lay below. She continued to watch her progression until she was out of sight.

…

"Luka!" Luka awoke to a feeling of being shaken and Lola repeating her name in a slightly loud voice.

"What….what is it?" Luka mumbled as she sat up, still holding the quilt over herself.

"You need to read this." Lola thrust it in her face. "I found it folded up and it has your name written on it. It says "Important" so I'm pretty sure it's important.

Luka slapped her forehead.

"Thank you captain obvious." Luka said, shaking her head. "You are a detective to be remembered."

Luka's stomach churned. The last time she had found an important note, it had been Kaito's suicide note that was full of confessions, mainly Gakupo's murder.

Nevertheless she opened the note.

_Luka-_

_ Mew sent me on a mission to find help. She says she saw one of those helicopters from yesterday land a little ways away from here. I'm going to see if there's anyone who can save us. But it's cold as hell out there, and I have a limited supply of food. So it's pretty much a suicide mission._

_ So here's where you come in…_

Luka read the rest of the note, making sure not to react to anything. She still didn't fully trust Lola, she had been around Mew too long for that. She read over Rin's plan with an unchanged expression, not knowing what to make of it. Only one thing was truly clear from the note, Rin was insane. Some of the words were unintelligible in Rin's hurried scrawl, and in other places the charcoal had smeared. But the basic idea was clear enough.

"So what is it?" Lola asked, her ordinary bored tone tinged with antsy curiosity.

"Rin's gone on some important mission for Mew." Luka explained "Something about finding help from a helicopter. But I'm worried. It's getting colder and colder every day and she's got a limited supply of food."

"She'll be fine," Lola said "Rin's too stubborn to die. She will stay alive, determined to annoy Mew further."

"I just hope she doesn't do anything crazy." Luka said shaking her head and ignoring Lola's comment about Mew.

"Of course she'll do something crazy." Lola laughed "She's just that way. But she's too crazy to do something of a normal crazy level. She has to do something completely insane! But she's not stupid. She knows when to ration food and how to take shelter. So don't worry about her."

"I suppose your right" Luka nodded. That was all Lola needed to hear for now. If Luka decided later that she trusted the girl, she might let her in on the secret. But until then, the dark haired girl would just have to remain in the dark.

Luka grabbed a solid blue, long-sleeved t-shirt that Yukari had mentioned matched her eyes when they found it in an old convenience store, and she pulled it on. She then grabbed a fluffy white parka they'd found on the same excursion. She snatched a pair of sweatpants off the floor and pulled them on before crawling over to grab her boots.

"What are you doing?" Lola asked tiredly. "We might as well sleep in as long as we can."

"I need to tell Kiyoteru about this." Luka said as she slid her left foot into its boot's fuzzy interior. "He would want to know."

Lola nodded before yawning and laying back down and covering herself with the blankets.

Luka slipped through the tent flap and out into the biting November cold. Luka shivered as the chilly air nipped at the exposed skin on her face and neck. She quickly pulled the hood of her coat over her head and rushed over to Kiyoteru's tent.

When she crawled inside, she found the teacher on a pile of blankets in nothing but his underwear. Luka felt her cheeks suddenly heat up despite the cold she had just run through, and she didn't think it was due to the exercise.

She looked at his sleeping form, noticing his muscular build. But was even more noticeable was his scars. They were all over, from his face to his heels. But Luka had no place to talk; she had just as many scars, probably more. But when she saw her scars, she thought about how disgusting she looked on the outside, which would only cause her to think about how revolting and repulsive she was on the inside. But his scars weren't ugly, they were kind of sexy. He was very young to be a teacher; he didn't even seem to be out of his twenties yet.

Luka shook her head and could feel her cheeks burning again. This wasn't a time to be admiring her friend's physique; there were bigger problems on hand.

She bent down and shook his arm.

"Kiyoteru! Kiyoteru, wake up!" she whispered urgently.

"Huh….wha….?" He sure was a heavy sleeper. Luka sighed and smacked his chest with all her might.

"Gah!" His half-closed eyes shot fully open. He looked around in confusion and over to Luka. Then he realized that he was in his underwear.

"Luka! I…" he frantically tried to grab the blankets around him and cover himself. She giggled and he flushed brighter than she had. "Why are you in here?"

"Read this." Her expression turned grave again as she handed him Rin's note. He grabbed his glasses from their case and carefully put them on his face. He skimmed over the hastily written charcoal, often stopping to mumble something unintelligible or shake his head at Rin's ideas.

_He's so cute when he's reading…GAH! Where did THAT come from?_

Luka sighed and ran her hand through her pink hair. Why did she keep doing this? So many thoughts were popping into her head about Kiyoteru this and Kiyoteru that.

_You're twenty, he's twenty two. You're not that different!_

"Shut up!" she quietly ordered her brain. This wasn't normal. She'd had feelings for Gakupo since…..

Wait, could that be it? She hadn't thought it was possible, but was she _getting over Gakupo? _

"I think she's insane."

Kiyoteru's voice had interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to the present.

_Now isn't the time for this! We still have the Rin problem!_

"So do I." Luka agreed "But she's completely serious. We've been here three weeks, and Mew…"

"She let Mew mess with her head again!" Kiyoteru shouted "She must have, what other explanation is there? She isn't the type to pull a Miku and constantly want approval and recognition of her help."

Luka sighed. She and Rin had related the Miku accident to him along with the rest of their story. He had taken most of it well, but he practically lost it when he heard what Kaito did. He had just continued to shout "SUICIDE ISN'T THE ANSWER!" as if Kaito could somehow hear him.

"It seems like Mew has been studying the human mind and it's weaknesses." Luka pointed out. "We can't blame Rin for being provoked or baited or whatever. It's not her fault she's out there alone."

"We need to do something about this." Kiyoteru sighed, adjusting his glasses.

"What is there to do except go through with her plan?" Luka asked.

Kiyoteru stared at Luka for a moment, mentally daring her to say she was kidding and that she had an alternate plan.

_His eyes are so deep. It's like I'm looking into an endless vortex of brown. FOCUS LUKA!_

After a moment of staring at each other, Kiyoteru sighed.

"You're just as crazy as she is if you want to go through with this." He notified her.

"I know Kiyoteru." Luka said with a small laugh. "But what else can we do?"

Kiyoteru looked back at the note and silently read the end of it.

_ Bring Kiyoteru. Don't risk Yuki if you don't have to, she's safer where she is, even if that means she's with that witch Mew._

_ Don't get killed._

_ -Rin_

"'Don't get killed.' Well that's comforting." Kiyoteru groaned. "I'm positive we're going to succeed now."

"Relax, would you? If we do this right, nobody has to die." Luka sighed and looked at the top of the tent.

"Uh, Luka?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still in here?"

"I don't know."

"Is it because you want to talk about this some more? Or is it because you want to see me in my underwear for another five minutes?"

Luka felt the adrenaline rush into her cheeks. She had never been one to blush, but this was just too much.

"Uh, sorry, I'll go now." Luka stammered as she crawled out of the tent.

Luka crawled out and stretched, reaching her long, bony arm high above her head. She turned around, just to get one last look at the tent…..

And there was Yuki with her arms folded over her chest.

* * *

**Do I sense a little Luka x Kiyoteru romance in the air?**

**So sorry for the late update! I was so FREAKING BUSY yesterday.**

* * *

**QUESTION TIME! (Because three people answered last time!)**

**Who thinks Mew is a bitch?**

**What did Yuki hear?**

**What is the plan Rin came up with for Luka and Kiyoteru?**

**Where did Luka's sudden crush come from?**

**Were Luka's thoughts really dumb sounding? I was trying to simulate what goes on in a girl's head when she likes a guy and sees him in his underpants.**

**Was Rin's flashback necessary? Or was it kind of unneeded? **

**Are Lola and Yukari to be trusted?**

**Sorry I didn't mention the time of year before! Is it okay that it wasn't?**

**Is the dramatic/emotional theme getting boring? I haven't killed anyone in a while...**

**Is Rin really going to help the group? Or does she have other reasons?**

**Is it weird that I'm always posting after midnight?**

**If Lily hadn't left the group, how would she have reacted to the letter? What about Mew's mind games?**

**What is your favorite color/fruit/animal?**

* * *

**NEW STORY UPDATE!**

**I plan on finishing this one before I start my next stories. My plan is to start two new stories, one with romance and one with more action. I plan to alternate days on which I upload for each story.**

**But I need to finish this one first.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rin had walked two miles when the snow had begun to fall. It was a light, gentile powder, so she ignored it. She continued walking in the direction of the supposed helicopter. After a few minutes, she noticed that the snowfall was becoming heavier and heavier and was gathering on her jacket. Her hands and face felt numb from the cold. She pulled the neck of her sweater up over her nose and shoved her hands in her pockets.

"I need to find shelter," she whispered into the sweater. She stopped moving and looked around. She was on top of a large office building. There was nothing on the roof except snow, so she guessed that the roof access was a trapdoor of some kind. But the snow was completely covering the surface of the roof, so it would take hours to find it and she didn't know where to start.

After thinking about it for a minute, she decided to keep moving and find shelter elsewhere before the storm worsened.

…

"Yuki! I…"

"Save it. I heard everything, and I want to know the plan. I can help." Yuki didn't move from where she stood, she didn't even uncross her arms.

"We're not putting you in danger again." Luka said firmly "We can't risk you like that."

"Wherever Hiyama Sensei goes, I go." Even after Kiyoteru's requests for Yuki to call him by his first name, she still addressed him as her teacher. "I'm pretty sure I made that clear a while ago."

"You need to stay with your cousin!" Luka said, her demeanor becoming strict. "I'm not putting your life on the line for the sake of what you want."

"So you're just going to leave me here with these people?" Yuki asked.

"You know Mew better than you know any of us. You wouldn't just be safer, you would be happier with her."

"I wouldn't be happy if you and Sensei left me!" Yuki cried. "I heard what you said about Mew, and I don't want her to do to me whatever she did to Rin!"

Luka stared at Yuki, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Yuki." Luka said gently, trying her hardest not to break down "She already did. What Mew does to people is she talks to them until they believe every word she says, and then she gets them to do whatever she wants."

"How?" Yuki was shocked at this new information. A girl who controlled people with words? Was that even possible?

"She does different things to different people. I don't really know how to explain it, but she's really dangerous."

"Then you can't leave me with her!" Yuki pointed out. "If talking to her is dangerous, how do you expect me to want to stay here?"

"If the alternative is what we have planned, then I think you want to stay." Luka said stubbornly. "Trust me; this is far more dangerous than anything Mew can say."

"I don't care! I can handle myself! I could even shoot a gun if you guys let me."

"You're staying here Yuki, and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind. O don't care what Mew can do as long as you don't get involved in Rin's plan. So go back to your tent and rest while you can."

"I'm not sleeping in the same tent as her ever again!"

"She's not even in there. She's over by the fire pit. Now go!"

"I don't want to go back to sleep. I want to help!"

Suddenly, an idea popped into Luka's head. She thought of a way that Yuki could help without getting too involved in her and Kiyoteru's potentially dangerous scheme.

"You know what? I think I have an idea." Luka bent down and whispered her plan into Yuki's ear. Yuki nodded, understanding the risk but still wanting to go through with it.

They looked up as the snow got heavier.

"Let's go over to the fire." Luka advised. "The snow's getting pretty bad."

As they walked over to the fire pit, and Mew, Luka couldn't help but worry about how Rin might have been faring in that situation.

…

Rin trudged through the snow, a prisoner to the cold. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide from the stinging cold of the wind. The snow was starting to get inside her jacket, where it would melt from her body heat and get her wet. That was making her even colder. She wanted to stop, to just lie down on the ground and let the snow engulf her. But she knew that there was no way she would survive unless she found somewhere to hide from the storm. She was exhausted and freezing, but she continued to walk in hope that she would find shelter.

When she came to a building that, to get on top of it, she had to leap not only across a three foot space, but she also had to gain altitude somehow to reach the roof that was a foot higher than where Rin's head now was. She knew she couldn't make the jump with the little strength she had left, so she sat down on the edge of the building and pulled out a small can of mixed sweetened fruit. She didn't even bother with a spoon (as if she had one) but just slurped the can down.

Suddenly, she felt dizzy. She started to slide off the edge, but grabbed on just in time. She shook her head clear and backed away from the edge. She was weak enough to fall off the edge, and she had too much on the line for that. Her plans for Luka and Kiyoteru wouldn't work if she was careless and died.

Rin quickly finished her snack and looked back at the jump she had to make. It seemed like too large of a task for her to perform in this state. She tried to stand up to look for an alternate route, but found that her legs were cold, numb, and extremely weak from walking so long without stopping to rest. She tried several times to push herself to her feet before she finally succeeded. She walked several feet across the roof before she fell back down, feeling even weaker this time.

_Stand up Rin! It's just a little cold out…_

She tried to haul herself to her feet, but felt weaker with every attempt. She resorted to crawling along the snow covered rooftop, wet snow seeping through her jeans and soaking her legs. She was almost sure she was getting frostbite in her fingers, but she did nothing about it.

After less than a minute, Rin could crawl no further. Her hand slipped on a small bit of ice and her face came crashing down in the snow. She rolled on to her back, pain and cold everywhere. The little she could see -due to the snowstorm- was spinning around her. She couldn't move a muscle and felt like her vision was darkening.

_Is this what it feels like to die? If it is, Len was lucky that his only lasted a second._

And there, all alone on that rooftop, slowly being buried in the snow, Rin lost consciousness.

But she had blacked out before she could see the coated figure approaching. The person bent over Rin's unconscious form, as if studying her. Then they picked up her limp body and carried it away.

…

The storm just kept getting worse. Everyone was huddled around the fire pit, the storm being too harsh for anyone to search for supplies or even stay on watch.

Luka, Kiyoteru, and Yuki were all huddled together, not saying a word. They weren't sure whether to put the plan into action now or wait until the storm died down. They all knew exactly what to do and when to do it, but they just weren't sure if they needed to start at that moment.

"Where's Rin?"

The question had come from Yuki. She stared at Mew with her big brown eyes. She had a look of absolute curiosity on her face. Luka suppressed a smile as Mew ate it up.

_I'll give this to the kid, she sure can act._

"Rin" Mew began with a small smile. "has chosen to leave our settlement. She told me herself that she was done with our overly organized situation and didn't like me as the leader. She told me that I am a selfish tyrant who doesn't care at all about you people and your wellbeing. She even said that I'm trying to control you all with words!"

Luka and Kiyoteru didn't even look at each other; they had expected something like this from Mew. Lola, however, gave Luka a confused look. Luka, when Mew's back was turned, shrugged and placed a finger to her lips. Lola gave a small nod and looked back at Mew.

The only person who didn't know the truth was Yukari. She just sat there, her mouth hanging open. She was shocked, and nobody blamed her. She and Rin had been becoming close friends, and that had sounded exactly like what Rin would have said. But everyone held their tongues and looked at Mew, who was the only person not sitting down.

"I know this may come as a shock." She said, turning to see Luka's and Kiyoteru's surprised faces. "But Rin made her choice, and now she's gone."

"Mew?" Yuki asked. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Mew looked at her cousin. "What is it?"

"Can I whisper it in your ear?" Yuki asked, faking an embarrassed smile. "It's kinda embarrassing."

Mew bent down, her ear right next to Yuki's icy lips.

"Okay, what is it?" she asked.

Mew felt a cold ring of metal press against her exposed temple.

"Gotcha," Yuki said with a smile.

Luka and Kiyoteru jumped into action, Kiyoteru grabbing Yukari and Luka wrapping her arms around Lola.

"Hey! Let me go you big weirdo!" Yukari shouted as Kiyoteru grabbed her around her waist while her arms were at her sides.

"What the hell, Luka?" Lola cried. Luka whispered the plan into her ear, letting her know that she trusted her completely and what Rin's note had really said.

"What is this?" Mew demanded without moving. She was afraid that Yuki had been around Luka and Rin long enough so that she wasn't afraid to shoot.

Luka grinned with all her passion and happiness. She was slightly crazed with the sudden power over their leader, and she felt truly happy for the first time in a while.

"This is the plan." She said.

…

Rin woke in an unfamiliar room. She was lying on a soft green couch with a thick quilt covering her. The walls and ceiling were covered in a chipping coat of deep green paint. When she rolled over, she could see a stone fire place with a homey fire burning in it and deep mahogany floor boards.

_How did I get here? Am I dead?_

Suddenly, a girl with long blonde hair walked into the room. Rin couldn't see her face, but she was wearing a white sweater and grey jeans. She also was wearing brown combat boots that were soaked with melted snow. Rin watched as the girl pulled off her boots and placed them by the fire to dry. She then proceeded to pick up the poker and adjust the various kinds of fuel for the fire; newspaper, sticks, old notebooks, a few books, and some actual pieces of wood.

"Where am I?" Rin asked; her voice was surprisingly hoarse.

The girl jumped, obviously startled by the sudden noise.

"Oh good, you're awake." The girl spoke, but a familiar voice came out. Rin was surprised, could she really be alive?

"Lily?" Rin croaked.

"So you do remember me." Lily turned around, her familiar face confirming Rin's suspicions.

"Yeah," Rin sat up, looking around the room. "What is this place?"

"An old hotel room." Lily explained. "I found it a little while back, after I was left alone." She gave Rin a sad look.

"What are you talking about?" Rin demanded. "You were the one who ran away!"

"That wasn't what happened, Rin." Lily said. Her words were angry, but her tone melancholy. "I did leave the restaurant three weeks ago because I was mad at Luka, but I was just going to clear my head. I went into a building next door to cool off, but when I came back, the restaurant was in shambles, there were zombies everywhere, and the three of you were nowhere to be found. I thought they'd gotten you, and I was the only one left. But it looks like you escaped."

"We all did. Everyone's fine as far as I know." Rin said. "But what did you do after you found the place wrecked?"

"Well, I went looking for a new place to stay. I spent some time just hopping around and camping out on rooftops, but eventually I realized that it wouldn't be safe in the cold. So I found this place and stuck with it. It's really nice actually. And there's a queen sized bed behind that curtain." Lily pointed to a doorway that was covered by a flower patterned curtain.

"This place is really nice, but I can't stay here." Rin pushed the blanket away to find that she was only in her under shirt and panties. She looked at Lily for an explanation.

"Your clothes are drying." She explained "You were soaked from the snow."

"Are we far from the place where you found me?" Rin asked.

"No, you were on top of that building next door." Lily pointed to the window. Rin stood, slightly wobbly at first, but soon finding her footing. She walked to the window and looked at the roof of a building that was covered in snow. She quickly realized that she was inside the building she had needed to jump onto the roof of.

"I need to go." Rin said, slowly walking back to Lily. "Where are my clothes?"

"Are you blind?" Lily asked "They're right there! By the fire!"

Rin turned and realized that she was right. Her sweater, jacket, jeans, and shoes were all drying by the fire place. Rin bent down to pick them up, finding them surprisingly dry. She pulled on her sweater and started to yank on her jeans. Lily watched her, making sure that she was strong enough to move around on her own. Once Rin had pulled her jeans on, she grabbed her jacket, which she found to have her earmuffs inside of one of the pockets, and pulled in on.

"Where's my backpack?" she asked, pulling her earmuffs on and adjusting her hair clips.

"In the other room," Lily responded, still studying her fellow blonde's movements. She was unstable, often falling off balance and seeking assistance from a wall or chair to hold herself steady as she walked. She walked through the curtain, grabbed her backpack off the bed and came back into the main room.

"You're in no condition to go out there." Lily determined. "You can't even walk straight."

"You don't understand." Rin said, shaking her head as if it would clear it of all the dizziness. "I need to meet them, and we need to get to the helicopter."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, obviously confused. "Who do you need to meet, and what helicopter?"

So Rin sat down and explained the situation to Lily, who listened to the whole thing without comment. She explained from the point of Lily's leaving and the man attacking Yuki in the bathroom to Mew's mission for her and her note to Luka and Kiyoteru.

"That's why I need to go." Rin finished. "They're counting on me, and I can't just let them down."

"What makes you even think there is a helicopter?" Lily asked. "Mew's a liar and a mentalist, she could have made the whole thing up."

"That was considered. If we don't find it, we can find shelter elsewhere. I could bring them here couldn't I?"

Lily nodded.

"I still can't let you go out there by yourself." Lily said stubbornly. "You'll get yourself killed."

"Then come with me!" Rin begged. "I don't care as long as we do what I promised!"

"Fine." Lily nodded. "Just let me get my stuff."

…

"What do you want?" Mew asked, trying to maintain her calm exterior, but they could hear a twinge of panic in her voice.

"We are going to leave." Luka said, loosening her grip on Lola ever so slightly. "All of us. You are going to stay here while we get every bit of supplies we need together. If you make the slightest movement, sound, or attempt to stop us, Yuki will put a bullet in your head. Get it?"

"Got it." Mew muttered in defeat.

"Good." Luka smiled as she released Lola. She turned to her and whispered "Sorry for the theatrics, but we wanted her to think you were on her side in case this didn't work out."

Lola nodded an apology and looked at Mew with disgust.

"I never liked you anyways." She spit at the bowed woman. Mew forced herself not to react; she didn't want to give the traitorous girl the satisfaction.

Luka and Lola ran to gather all the supplies they could fit in their backpacks. Kiyoteru quietly tried to explain the situation to Yukari who, after several minutes of convincing, believed him about Mew's mind games and went to help Lola and Luka. Kiyoteru then grabbed his own gun and aimed it at Mew's head.

"Go help everyone else." He said to Yuki, who lowered her gun and nodded. She ran off to help gather what they could carry with them.

This was Mew's chance. Yuki may have been ruthless, but she had found out otherwise about Kiyoteru.

"I wonder how long it will take for you to realize what a huge mistake you're making." She said casually.

"Shut your mouth before I pull the trigger." He said threateningly.

"Do what you want with me. I'm just concerned about you. Here you have food, shelter, warmth, everything you need to survive. Out there the cold and wind is waiting for you to appear, so it can use one of its millions of tactics of killing you and everyone else. If you let me go now, I will forgive you for all of this and we can go on living as we were before. The icy winds out there are much less lenient. So why don't you just set the gun down?"

Kiyoteru faltered for a split second, but that was all Mew needed. She slipped away from the gun and stood upright. She snatched the gun away from the confused sensei and spun him around so that his back was to her. She pressed the gun to his temple.

"Now scream." Mew said, digging the cold metal barrel into his skin. "Scream like the little kitten you really are! Do it or I shoot."

Kiyoteru shouted as loud as he could, trying to make it as painful as possible.

"HIGHER!" Mew demanded. "I WANT THEM TO HEAR YOU SCREAM LIKE A NEWBORN BABY!"

He screamed as highly pitched as was possible with his voice. He screamed and screamed until everyone had come out. Luka, Lola, and Yukari came running toward them.

"Stop." Mew said, smirking with power-lust and insanity "Or you get to hear him scream for real."

They froze in their tracks, seeing the gleaming metal barrel of the gun being pressed into Kiyoteru's head.

"Drop everything in your hands. And if you hesitate, I'll blow his brains out." Mew cackled. The girls complied, letting all their supplies drop to the ground.

"Good!" Mew smiled evilly "No I want you to put every…"

Mew began to hack and choke, as if someone was strangling her. She dropped the gun and released Kiyoteru, who snatched up the gun and distanced himself from Mew, who he aimed the gun at.

But there was no need. They stared at mew for a moment before they noticed a glint of metal around her throat. They moved to see that Yuki was behind her and had lassoed her throat with a chain that she had found a while ago and deemed useful. She was slowly strangling her cousin and repeating the same words over and over again.

"I hate you. I hate you. I HATE YOU!"

Mew fell to her knees and started mindlessly groping at the air.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Yuki screamed with everything she had. She pulled on the chain harder and harder until Mew fell limp.

Seeing the lifeless body flop over, Kiyoteru ran to Yuki, who was still yanking on the chain and screaming louder than the icy wind. He reached the little girl and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her away from the dead body.

"PUT ME DOWN! DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed.

"Yuki. Yuki relax. Calm down, take deep breaths." He held onto the girl, gently cradling her as she began to cry.

"I….I was so scared of losing you!" she sobbed "Mew was going to shoot! And I…"

"It's alright baby. Everything's alright." He held the small girl as if she was his own child. All of a sudden, he began to softly sing to her.

_"The world will completely change in a mere moment. There are no securely existant things in this world."_

_ "What we call 'always' evaporates in a mere moment." _Yuki quietly joined in._ "If 'always' does not exist then it's in short, wavering bits."_

Everyone was silent as the two made their way through the song. Both the student and the teacher had beautiful voices, and they captured everyone's attention. Out of the blue, Luka realized that the song was very similar to their lives now. Every decision, every movement, every moment could change everything. The world had change in a mere moment hadn't it? One minute Luka had been licking her Popsicle, the next she was running for her life.

_"I once believed in a world distant from its demise." _Luka joined them after a minute. _"If I regard it, it will distance itself from me forever."_

Soon everyone was singing. They all had lovely voices, and they carried the song on well. Even Lola was singing, her voice beautiful and full of emotion.

When the song ended, Yuki hugged Kiyoteru tightly. He hugged her back, but gently and caringly.

"Thank you Hiyama Sensei," she murmured into his coat. "You know how much I love that song."

"You're welcome Yuki." He said, breaking the embrace and setting her down in the snow. "You know how much I love to hear you sing."

Yuki blushed. She turned to look at her cousin's body.

"I wish I could say she wasn't worth killing," Yuki sighed. "But she was. We all know that don't we?"

"Yes." Kiyoteru said. He turned to the girls awaiting them. "We need to get the stuff and go. Rin's probably waiting for us, if she's still alive that is."

Yuki nodded solemnly and went to grab a bag. It was going to be a long walk from there.

…

Lily and Rin had been waiting on the roof of the hotel for hours when they finally reached them. Rin stood and waved, catching their attention. She jumped across to the building where she had fallen unconscious and ran up to hug Luka.

"You're alive." Luka whispered, her breath shaking in the cold. "You made it!"

"And I found someone." She waved Lily down, who repeated Rin's actions and ran up to Luka. The two stared at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"You made it." Luka said with a nod.

Lily didn't respond, she just threw her arms around Luka and pulled her into a hug. She started sobbing into her shoulder. Luka was shocked, she didn't know what to do make of it. Lily _crying? _And after what had happened between them before.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Lily sobbed "I thought they had gotten you, and that the last time we had ever talked to each other was in a fight. I'm so sorry for everything I said!"

"I'm sorry too," Luka said as she returned the hug. "But you don't have to cry like that. Everything's fine, and we're all back together. So stop crying, alright?"

Lily pulled away and wiped her eyes with a smile. She nodded and turned to jump back to the other side. Rin, who was feeling much better, followed her example. After her came Luka, Yuki, Kiyoteru, Lola, and Yukari.

"I wasn't expecting you to bring everyone." Rin said with a laugh. "This is just weird. Mew not being here to boss us around I mean. Is she dead?"

Everyone quieted. Rin looked around.

"I'll take that as a yes. Sorry for ruining the mood." Rin said, looking at the snow at her feet. The she looked up and around.

"The storm's lifting!" she said with a grin, looking around at the now light snowfall. "We can actually see where we're going!"

Everyone smiled, even Yuki. Rin sure knew how to lift everyone's spirits.

…

"There's the helicopter!" Rin cried. "Mew wasn't lying!"

"Is there anyone inside?" Yukari asked. "They could have abandoned it."

"We better find out fast then." Lola said, glancing to the west. "The sun's setting, and we need to get somewhere safe before then."

Luka and Rin ran up to the chopper. Rin tried to wipe the frost off the window and look inside, but it was impossibly painful with her bare hand. So they grabbed the door handle and looked at each other.

"On three." Luka said. Rin nodded. "One, two, THREE!"

They jerked the heavy door open and looked inside. Luka stared with disbelief. Rin was crestfallen. She turned around and marched back to the rest of the group.

"Empty." She reported. "Whoever landed that thing must've ditched it. It probably doesn't work."

"Like any of us could've even flown it." Lily pointed out. "Unless one of us secretly has a pilot's license."

"No supplies either." Luka informed the group. "Whoever landed got out alive and made a break for it with everything in that thing."

"Well," Lola asked. "What now? Where do we go, or is there no plan B?"

"We can go back to Lily's place." Rin said. "That place makes a pretty damn good shelter. We can stay there until we figure out our next move."

"We better get there fast." Kiyoteru looked at the setting sun. "It's almost dark, and it'll only be colder at night."

"Let's get moving then!" Lily urged.

* * *

**Sorry that was a bit shorter than my recent chapters, but I wanted to actually upload at a reasonable time!**

**The next chapter will be the finale, so get ready for that!**

* * *

**If you don't know what time it is, I WILL slap you with a leek. Repeatedly.**

**How does Yuki feel about killing someone? How does she feel about that someone being her cousin?**

**Did you recognize the song they were singing? It's one of my personal favorites.**

**Will the setting sun pose a threat?**

**Why is the helicopter empty? Why did the pilot leave?**

**Did Mew deserve to die?**

**Are you sad that it's ending soon?**

**Are you planning to read my upcoming works? Yes they will be about Vocaloid.**

**Are you glad to have Lily back? Why or why not?**

**Is it weird to see someone die after so long? Okay so it hasn't been THAT long...**

**Do you miss any specific characters? Is there anyone who died who you think should have lived? (You can't say everyone)**

**Where did they originally find the chain? Why was that Yuki's choice of what to kill Mew with? She was holding a gun.**

**Was the plan all it was advertised to be? Or was it kind of a let down?**

**CAN Vocaloids survive a zombie apocalypse?**

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! You guys are the best!**


	11. Finale

Finale

They weren't even halfway to Lily's hotel room when it became too dark to continue their trek.

"What now?" Yukari asked, pulling at one of her lavender pigtails nervously. It had become a habit of hers whenever she was upset or worried. "We can't keep going in the dark, and the snow just keeps coming!"

"We're going to have to create some sort of makeshift shelter." Kiyoteru said "It's either that, or continue traveling in the dark."

"There's nothing here we can use to create a shelter." Luka observed. "Our best option is to turn around and use the helicopter."

"Alright," Rin nodded and looked to everyone else. "But we need to be extra careful. Everyone got that?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement.

Rin sighed and looked over the group. Kiyoteru and Yuki were sticking together as if they had been cemented to one another, but Yuki was obviously exhausted and ready to fall asleep where she stood. Yukari kept pulling on her pigtails and adjusting her red beanie, she was obviously worried about the darkness, yet tired from the day's trek to the helicopter and now back. Lola and Lily were attempting to maintain their mature and tough behavior, but they both looked ready to crash. Luka was standing tall, hiding her exhaustion well.

"Let's go." Rin said, turning to examine the space they had to jump. She knew that it was too dark for any of them to have the depth perception to see how far to jump, so she walked up to a tree that had been planted in the roof's garden and waved Luka over. She was too tired to explain, so she pointed at the tree's largest branch, then at Gakupo's sword. Luka sighed and nodded.

She climbed into the tree and sawed the limb off. It fell with a loud snap and landed with a dull thud. Kiyoteru and Lola came to help Rin move the branch as Luka climbed out of the tree. They dragged the branch to the space they had to cross and laid it across. Then Rin turned to the group.

"Be careful when you cross." Was all she said.

Everyone nodded and took turns tightrope walking the branch. They spent the next half hour doing so, it being unsafe to jump in the dark. Every building meant moving the branch again and walking across it.

When they finally reached the building before the one with the helicopter, everyone was exhausted beyond comprehension from taking turns dragging the branch and walking for so long without resting. Rin, Yuki, Kiyoteru, Luka, Yukari, and Lily had all crossed safely. Lola was looking at the branch with suspicion.

"What's up Lola?" Yukari shouted to her friend from the other side of the alley.

"I don't trust it." Lola called back. "We've worn the hell out of this branch, what if it snaps when I try to cross?"

"Relax Lola!" Kiyoteru called back. "The lack of sleep has you paranoid! You'll be fine just as long as you maintain your balance and cross slowly."

Lola sighed, knowing that he was right and she had no chance of winning that argument. She started walking across the branch slowly, without looking down. She took steady breaths and placed on foot in front of the other.

Without warning, the branch snapped. Lola screamed as she started to plummet. Not knowing what to do, she grabbed the branch and hugged it in terror.

Luka was quick. She ran to the edge and grabbed the branch. Lola stopped falling, but she was heavy. Luka could feel herself slowly sliding off the edge.

"Help me!" Luka shouted to the people behind her. Kiyoteru, Rin, and Lily rushed to where Luka stood, grabbing the branch with her. Together, they pulled Lola up onto the roof.

"Are you okay?" Yukari asked her urgently. Lola winced, not standing up, but instead lying next to where they had placed the branch. "Lola? What's wrong?"

Lola groaned and pulled her hand away from her stomach to reveal that one of the sharp secondary branches that diverged from the larger one had punctured her flesh and was sticking straight into her torso.

"Oh god," Yukari murmured. Tears were sliding down the cheeks of both girls. "Well? Get it out of her!"

"I can try." Kiyoteru said. "But there may be punctured organs, and trying to remove the branch could only injure her further."

"Leaving the branch where it is won't be much help either!" She argued. "Get it out of her before she dies!"

Rin turned around as Kiyoteru ripped the branch out of Lola's flesh. There was a disgusting tearing sound, a sort of squelching noise, and a high whining noise from Lola. Normally Rin had a strong stomach, but this was just too much. It was all too similar to the first day, when the ripped metal stabbed into Len's back and Kaito had needed to pull him off as he hung upside down and screamed in pain and fear. The sounds, the shouts, everything was so similar, except it was Yukari screaming, not Lola. The screams weren't in fear, but pain. And the sound wasn't as loud or as horrific as it had been when Len had been ripped off of the metal.

"How much blood has she lost?" Lily asked.

"Some, but it isn't nearly as bad as it could've been." Kiyoteru reported. "We need to disinfect and dress the wound as soon as possible. There is a germ in the air that can enter the human body through exposed wounds and turn people into those freak zombie things."

Rin cringed, knowing who Kiyoteru was thinking about. Luka came over and put an arm around her friend, knowing how similar this was to her duplicate's life revoking injury. Rin laid her head on Luka's shoulder, too tired to cry. The two of them stood there for a moment, staring at the darkened city. They had come so far together, but how long could it last? It had been less than an hour into the apocalypse when Len had fallen off the fire escape. Just an hour or two later, Haku had been bitten and shot. Then, several hours in, Gakupo and Neru had been shot down by Kaito. A day after the beginning, Miku had tried to jump from one window to the next, and ended up plummeting to her death. Then Kaito had swallowed all those pills on the roof, too grief stricken to continue. Two weeks later, Len had turned into one of the monsters, but had fought it enough to tell Rin to kill him. After another week, Gumi had been slowly ripped apart by a mass of zombies. Not five minutes later, Meiko was bitten trying to protect Yuki and Kiyoteru until they got inside, with no bullets left for her gun. Lily had been left with the task of taking their leader behind the sushi restaurant and killing her. So many of them had died, and now they were standing there as a girl was having a stick ripped out of her stomach.

"It….hurts…." Lola moaned. "It….IT BURNS!"

"Oh no." Kiyoteru muttered. "The branch must have punctured an organ. Seeing where it is, it must have been her stomach."

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" she sobbed, writing on the cement.

Kiyoteru pulled out his gun.

"What are you doing?" Yukari cried. "Fix her! Don't kill her!"

"There's no way to help." Kiyoteru said. He pointed the gun at Lola and fired. There was a bang and the bullet was in her skull. "Her stomach had been punctured and the hydrochloric acid was escaping and eating away at her other organs. There was no way to help her, and all I could do was put her out of her misery."

"IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE GOT HURT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Yukari screamed. "YOU TOLD HER TO CROSS!"

"He had no way of knowing that the branch would snap!" Luka said, coming to his defense. Rin stepped away from her, not wanting to get in the way. "He was just trying to help her!"

"Who asked you?" Yukari demanded. "You didn't just lose your best friend!"

"YOU THINK I HAVEN'T GONE THROUGH THIS?" Luka screamed. "I WATCH MY BEST FRIEND FALL TEN STORIES AND SMASH ALL HER BONES! I FOUND OUT MY EX-BOYFRIEND HAD BEEN SHOT THROUGH A NOTE! WE'VE ALL LOST PEOPLE, YUKARI. SO GET THE FUCK OVER IT!"

"NO! IF YOU'VE LOST PEOPLE LIKE THAT, THEN YOU KNOW THAT I CAN'T JUST GET OVER IT! WHY DON'T YOU JUST…"

Suddenly, the ever sounding drone of the zombies became louder. Yukari stopped midsentence and looked in the direction on the sound. Everyone else's eyes followed hers and they saw zombies climbing onto the roof.

"Impossible…" Rin whispered. Since when could they climb up perfectly flat surfaces? Or anything other than stairs?

The zombies just kept coming, having been attracted by the screams. The group dashed toward the helicopter, only to find that the door was locked.

"It was open just an hour ago!" Luka whispered "Why would it be locked now?"

The zombies were climbing from all sides of the building now, cornering the bunch of the living. They had nowhere to go.

All of a sudden, the door to the helicopter opened, hitting Yukari in the back of the head. Inside was a man with tousled pink hair in an American army uniform.

"Get in!" he ordered in perfect Japanese. They complied, filing inside. But Yukari had been knocked senseless, and the zombies were almost to her. The man didn't think twice, but instead jumped out of the helicopter. He slipped around the door and grabbed Yukari just before a few zombies could. He carried her as if she weighed nothing back inside the helicopter.

"Take her!" he commanded Luka. She complied, grabbing the limp body and pulling it into the back of the helicopter with everyone else. The pink haired man grabbed the door handle and heaved the heavy metal door closed. He turned to the mess of survivors in the back of the chopper.

"My name is Yumma, and I'm from the American military. I was deployed here to assist a team that was sent to attempt to find as many survivors as possible."

"Yumma?" Rin asked "That's a Japanese name, but you said you're from America."

"Good observation young lady." He said with a nod. "I was, in fact, born in Japan, but my family moved to America when I was young. I volunteered for this mission because I felt a certain loyalty to my homeland and its people. May I have your names?"

"My name is Kagamine Rin," Rin said, finding the man trustworthy. "formerly CV02VA of Crypton."

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Kagamine." Yumma said with a kind smile.

"I am Megurine Luka, formerly CV03 of Crypton."

"I am Hiyama Kiyoteru."

"My name is Kaai Yuki."

"I'm Lily."

"Just Lily?" Yumma raised an eyebrow.

"Just Yumma?" she countered.

"Fair enough." He laughed, looking to Yukari's unconscious form. "And who is that lovely lady?"

"Yuzuki Yukari." Rin said, looking at Yukari sadly. "And we just lost a girl named Lola."

"I am sorry for your loss." Yumma said sincerely. "Do you have any current shelter?"

"We have a hotel room." Lily told him. "But it isn't exactly an impenetrable stronghold."

"Well, when the snow clears, I can fly you to a military protected community in the country side." Yumma said. "There is a steady food supply, a water source, and plenty of other people. I would be happy to take you there."

"Why should we trust you?" Luka asked suspiciously, just as paranoid as always.

"Because I just saved your ungrateful little ass, little lady." He said in a dark, dangerous tone. "Why would I have done that if I just wanted to kill you?"

"To gain our trust, and kill us when we get to your stupid base so that you could take our supplies."

Yumma laughed "You have obviously been tricked or betrayed in some way recently, beautiful. But I swear, I only want to help. Besides, I am not the type of man to kill children, especially young ones." He glanced at Yuki and Rin.

"I am not a child." Rin said, clenching her fists. "I have been through shit that would make your arrogant head spin."

"How have I showed arrogance?" Yumma asked. "I saved your lives, asked your names, and asked if I may take you to a shelter."

"You called Luka 'little lady' and 'beautiful' like you were trying to pick up on her." Kiyoteru said, sharing in Rin's anger. Luka was surprised; Kiyoteru was pissed because a semi-attractive man was hitting on her?

_Could it be that he likes me back?_

"I was merely being polite." Yumma assured him. "If you are in any sort of relationship with her, I apologize for my ignorant come-ons."

Kiyoteru and Luka both turned an absurd shade of red. Rin and Lily laughed.

"Come on guys!" Lily teased. "You know you like each other!"

"This is bullshit." Luka said, shaking her head. "We should be more worried about the approaching corpses than this crap."

As if on cue, the helicopter began to shake as dozens of zombies beat on the walls, trying to get in.

"What are you waiting for?" Lily shouted. "Fly!"

"It's snowing in the middle of the night!" Yumma protested.

"We'd rather risk it!" Rin shouted. "These things are inhumanly strong, I've seen them rip down an entire restaurant!"

Yumma pushed a sequence of seemingly random buttons, and soon the rotors were spinning. There was a series of thuds and scratching noises, informing the group that there were zombies on top of the helicopter. They were either being blown away or chopped into little pieces.

"Hold on!" Yumma shouted. Kiyoteru immediately grabbed Yuki, Luka grabbed Yukari, and Lily grabbed onto the back of Yumma's chair. Rin pulled herself up front and sat in the passenger seat. She pulled on a series of seatbelts as the aircraft took off. Lily looked through the frosty window to see a few zombies holding on to the sides of the helicopter.

"Can't you get them off?" she asked in frustration.

"What do you want me to do? Climb on the outside of the chopper and kill them like that?" Yumma was obviously annoyed at Lily for bugging him while he was trying to focus on flying through the snow. It wasn't a storm anymore, but it still wasn't exactly easy to see.

Lily turned, her back to the window, to look at Luka and Yukari.

"How is she?" Lily asked.

"She's alive." Luka replied. "I think she just got knocked out. She'll probably be fine."

There was a crash and Lily halt something grab onto her hair. She screamed as the hand that held her by her hair started banging her head against the window.

The zombie hanging from the side of the helicopter had broken a hole in the glass with its hand and snatched Lily's hair. It seemed like it was trying to pull her head to where it could bite her, but the remains of the window were in the way.

"Lily!" Luka cried, dropping Yukari. She shoved her way through her companions to the struggling blond, who cried out in pain every time her head hit the glass. Luka carefully pulled out Gakupo's sword, trying not to injure anyone, and grabbed Lily. The hand still held her hair on the other side of the window. Luka positioned the sword just below Lily's hair and swung.

The blade sliced right through Lily's hair, causing the zombie to lose its hold and fall off the side of the vehicle, plummeting to the ground. Lily looked at Luka, feeling where her hair used to be.

"Thanks." She said with a nod. Luka returned the nod, putting the sword away. Then Lily laughed. "I don't know why I didn't cut it off a long time ago, it was just waiting to be snatched by somebody or other."

"I think it looks better short." Yuki said with a smile. "It makes you look prettier."

Lily smiled at the little girl. She wasn't exactly thinking pretty, but it was definitely more convenient. Luka had sliced it so that it fell just below her shoulders, instead of its previous length, which was all the way down to her hips. She looked at the only person left with long hair.

"You should cut yours too, Luka." She said. "We don't need that happening more than once."

Luka nodded and pulled the sword back out. She made sure nobody was in the way and sliced her hair to just beyond chin length. The icy wind was howling through the hole the zombie had made in the window, and she realized something.

"Why didn't the window shatter?" she asked, crawling back to grab Yukari before she got hurt. "Is it some kind of re-enforced glass?"

"It's shatterproof, bulletproof glass." Yumma explained "That just goes to show you how strong these freaks are." He shook his head. "This is insane. It took less than a day for the whole world to go to shit, and in six weeks it's only gotten worse."

…

They flew through the snow and out of the city. It took several hours, but eventually they reached the shelter. Everyone except Yumma slept practically the entire time, it being that they had been walking, jumping, and moving a gigantic branch for around an hour.

"Yumma?" Rin asked after she had awoken.

"Yes, Rin?" he asked.

"We came to the helicopter an hour before you let us in, and you weren't here. Where were you?"

"I was searching for survivors." He replied. "But I came back to the helicopter when night fell."

"Oh." Rin said. She leaned back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling. It seemed unbelievable. After all this time, they were finally going to a safe place with guards and supplies. It had been insane work, and more deaths had occurred than wanted, but they were finally done with running and hiding and searching for supplies every day.

"Rin?"

"Yes?"

"That girl who died from the branch, was that Lola?"

Rin looked at him strangely.

"Were you watching us?"

"Yeah, but I didn't approach you in case you were dangerous." He explained.

"Yeah that was Lola."

"I know why the branch snapped." He said, staring straight ahead as he flew. Rin, however, was staring right at him.

"Why?" she demanded.

"All of your backs were turned, so I shot the branch."

Rin stared at him. She wasn't furious, or upset, or shocked. She just stared.

"Why?"

"I didn't see her walking." He said. "I thought you had all crossed, so I shot the branch so that I could ask you to come with me without you trying to leave and getting yourselves killed in the dark. I thought I was doing you a favor."

"You thought wrong."

"I know. And I felt horrible when I saw that there had been someone on the branch. I felt even worse when I saw her die."

"Doesn't matter."

"Why aren't you mad at me? I killed her for fuck's sake!"

"I've killed people." Rin shrugged. "And enough of my friends have died for me to accept that it's something that's going to happen. I was just becoming good friends with Lola, but she died, and that's that. What is there to do about it? I knew a man who accidentally shot his best friend in the dark, thinking he was an attacker. I understand that these things happen, but when Yukari wakes up, she won't be as forgiving."

"I still have to tell her. I can't just leave her in the dark about her best friend's death."

"I won't try to stop you, Yumma. Just make sure she isn't armed when you tell her. She's pretty trigger happy."

Yumma laughed for a moment before becoming serious again.

"What happened to your family, Rin?"

"I didn't have one. Do you remember what I said when I introduced myself?"

"You said that you were formerly CV02VA of Crypton. Does that mean something?"

"It means I'm not human." Rin said with a small smile. "I am a robot of sorts, but I have a human body that undergoes human processes and has human needs. I am as close to human as you can get, except for the fact that I was created in a lab. The same thing goes for Luka."

"How old are you really, then?" he asked "You can't really be fourteen years old."

"Technically, I'm only six years old." Rin said, leaning back. "I was created in 2007."

"Do you age? Or are you going to remain fourteen forever?"

"I age. I was created at age eight and have been getting older ever since. I will eventually become an old lady and die like anyone else. That is, if I don't get ripped apart by zombies first."

"Why were you created?"

"For entertainment." Rin said with a laugh. "It seems so stupid now, but we were created to be entertainers and performers."

"So you sing?"

"And dance. And basically whatever Crypton wanted me to do." She sighed. "But none of that matters now. Now it's all about survival skills and fighting to live."

"You must be pretty good at that too if you made it this far." He praised her. "Same with everyone else. Even Yuki, who can't be more than seven."

"She's nine." A bitter edge crept into Rin's voice. Despite her failure to comfort Yuki, she still defended her at any chance she got. "She doesn't look seven."

"Sorry!" Yumma exclaimed "I didn't mean to be offensive!"

"It doesn't matter." That was what Rin kept saying, but her tone implied that it did matter, even a little bit. She closed her eyes and was soon asleep again. But not even ten minutes later Yumma woke her with an announcement.

"We're here."

Rin turned around in her seat and shook Luka, who was the closest to her. She looked up at her friend drowsily.

"Wake up the others, we made it." Rin informed her. Luka nodded and started waking everyone else.

Soon they were all awake, including Yukari, who Luka had to explain the entire situation to. She was still upset about Lola, but she didn't yell at Kiyoteru anymore.

…

They landed on a helipad in the middle of a large fenced area. There were large tents all over the expanse of the space inside the fence. The fence was extremely high and, as Yumma informed them, electric.

When they landed, a tall man in a dark suit opened the door. He had dark brown hair and familiar, childish eyes.

"Is everyone alright in here?" the man asked. "No wounded or sick?"

"Daddy?"

The question came from Yuki, who was peering over Yumma's shoulder at the man. She looked nervous, as if she was scared to hope for fear of being let down.

"Yuki?" the man's voice was suddenly hopeful and urgent. "Is that my girl?"

"Daddy! You're alive!" Yuki scrambled over Yumma, stepping on him several times, and jumped into her father's arms. Yumma smiled and climbed out after her. Rin went out after him, followed by everyone else.

Luka looked toward Kiyoteru, who she saw watching Yuki and her father. His eyes were full of sadness and longing. Luka went over and put her arm around him. He turned to her and, to Luka's surprise, returned the gesture by placing his arm around her waist.

"It's so strange, watching another man hug my little girl." He said sadly.

"She's not a little girl anymore." Luka told him. "This experience forced her to grow up much faster than anyone could have wanted."

"I guess." He looked at her. "But at least one good thing came out of this."

"What's that?"

"I found a new little girl."

"Oh really?" she said jokingly. "Is she prettier than me?"

"Oh definitely." He said. "She would make you SO jealous."

"Show me how."

"Gladly."

He gently bent over slightly, being a bit taller than her, and planted a small kiss on her fragile red lips. She kissed him back, but with more passion. She was grinning inside. He didn't just like her back, he loved her back. And that made her happier than anyone.

…

Epilogue

Rin and Yukari

They shared a tent, just like they had before. Rin woke up that morning next to her best friend and poked the back of her neck.

"Yukari." She whispered "Wake up you big weirdo."

"Yukari is not here at the moment." She murmured, eyes still closed. "Please leave a message after the beep."

"Alright." Rin said with a mischievous smile. She reached outside of the tent and started looking through the grass. When she found a large toad, she snatched it up and brought it back into the tent. She crept up to Yukari, bent over her, and sent the frog down the back of her shirt.

"GAH! AH! IT'S IN MY BRA! RIN YOU LITTLE DEMON!"

Rin doubled over, laughing so hard she thought she might choke. They had been playing jokes on each other like this for months now, and they just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"If you get up, I'll get the frog out." Rin said between giggles.

"Alright! Alright!" Yukari cried. Rin laughed and reached down the back of Rin's shirt. She grabbed the frog in her fist and pulled it out before it could hop away. She stuck her hand outside and let the frog go. Yukari sat up and shivered.

"If you ever do that again, I will take my gun and shoot you." Yukari said, a serious look on her face.

"I'd like to see you try." Rin giggled. "Now get dressed, we need to get to work!"

Rin dressed quickly and, with no patience for Yukari's groggy slowness, she stepped outside of the tent into the fresh spring air.

The camp was beautiful, green grass everywhere, butterflies flitting through the cool breeze. The gardens were ripe with spring blooming vegetables and the fruit trees were covered in flowers. The younger children, including Yuki, were always running and playing in the lush green fields.

The winter had passed without problems. As soon as they had arrived, everyone except Yuki had been assigned a tent and job. Yuki was too young to work and was staying with her family.

Suddenly, Rin felt a handful of something slimy slide down her back.

"Ah! Ew! Yukari you sicko!" she reached into her shirt and pulled out a tangled handful of worms.

"That's what you get." Yukari giggled. "You dump something slimy down my back, I return the favor."

"Whatever." Rin said with a disgusted wince. "Let's just get to the orchard."

Both girls had been assigned the same tent, and a job at the orchard. It had allowed them plenty of time together to become best friends. After she had lost Lola, Yukari hadn't known what to think, but Rin's loss of Len had brought them even closer, it being that both girls were searching for new best friends.

They were happy. They were scarred mentally, emotionally, and physically, but they were alive. And that was enough for both of them.

…

Kiyoteru and Luka

They had been together since the day the helicopter had landed in the safe camp. Their tents were right next to each other (which they'd practically had to beg for) and they visited each other every day. They didn't sleep together, neither of them were ready for that, but they spent more time together than anyone thought possible.

At first, the relationship had scared Luka. She had thought that her love for him was just her need for something to replace Gakupo, but about halfway through January, she had told him everything she was upset about. That was when he promised her that it didn't matter to him whether he was her first love or her replacement for a lost one, he still cared about her. She began to relax from them on, and they become even closer.

They had different jobs, Luka working in the vegetable garden and Kiyoteru helping control the power they were taking from nearby windmills. It didn't matter though, as long as they could see each other every day after they had finished working. Every night, when everyone in the community came together to eat, they always sat together, along with Yukari, Rin, and Lily. All of the friends from before, sitting together like everything was comepletely normal.

It wasn't paradise, but it was enough for the two of them. They were happy, they soon realized, anywhere, as long as they were together.

…

Lily

Lily woke up every day next to a stranger. She was a girl, a few years younger than Lily, who never spoke above a whisper. Of course, she didn't care; she was Lily. She worked together with Luka in the gardens and ate breakfast and dinner with all of her friends. Midday meals were eaten at work, during a break.

She much preferred her life in the camp to the one she'd had in the city. Although there were zombies running into the electric fence all the time, their numbers weren't nearly as bad as they had been in the city. In her free time, Lily often found herself taking long walks along the fence, looking at any zombies that were trying to get in. She had always been a loner, and that hadn't changed.

There were many times when her mind wondered back to Kaito. She missed him, and had always really liked him. She had known that he liked Miku, it was obvious really, but in the end she found that she still cared about him. It made her sad whenever she thought about the fact that he had committed suicide. She had never even gotten a chance to tell him how she felt. Luka may have decided that she would hate him forever and that he deserved to burn in hell, but she wished that, if he couldn't come back, he could at least be in a better place with Miku and Gakupo. She knew that she truly cared about him, she should wish for his eternal happiness. So that she did, even if it often left her broken down and crying next to the fence; the only witness to her despair being a couple zombies and a toad.

…

Yuki

After they had landed in the safe camp, Yuki's father had taken her back to his tent, where her mother and aunt were waiting. She had rejoiced in seeing them both, and in having her family together and alive.

This aunt, however, was Mew's mother. She was also pregnant.

Every time the two of them saw each other, her aunt would ask her to feel her stomach and check if the baby was still there. Yuki played along, pretending to think it was funny that her aunt would think that her baby had gone missing, but inside, she didn't care for things like that anymore. She had grown beyond childish games even before the zombies had appeared, but she knew that her aunt was only trying to make her feel better about everything that had happened. So she pretended, using the acting skills Luka had admired when she had tricked Mew on the roof all those months ago.

It made Yuki sick to speak to her aunt. She loved her, but she felt horrible inside when she was near her. It was the guilt of killing that woman's only daughter, and the baby's only sibling. She never told her aunt, for fear of upsetting her too much. But at the same time, she wondered if it would have been better for her to know. Would knowing about Mew's death make it easier for her? Or should she just let her aunt hold onto that small shred of hope she had that her daughter was still alive?

It became all the worse one day when her aunt asked the question Yuki had been dreading.

"Do you think Mew is alright?"

The words had been a question for Yuki's mother, who had been inside the tent with her while Yuki was outside playing. She often played by herself these days, finding that she had become too distant from other children to take part in their games.

"I can't say for sure." Her mother had replied sincerely. "But she's a strong woman, and far too stubborn to kill."

"I just wish I could have some sort of confirmation that she's alright." Her aunt said with a sigh. "The way I'm worrying can't be good for the baby."

"I'm sure the baby will be fine." Her mother said comfortingly. "And Mew is smart, strong, kind, and resourceful. Everything about her makes her perfect for survival out there."

Yuki shook her head at the ignorant adults. Had they really been foolish enough to be dragged in by Mew's games? Had they really been convinced that Mew was such an amazing person, when she was really a power hungry, self-centered, tyrant? Yuki's guilt became insane anger. She hated Mew. She hated her for everything she had ever done, to her and to everyone else. She hated her for even existing and causing all the horrible things she had. She hadn't deserved a sweet, kind mother like Yuki's aunt! Or a naïve, trusting cousin such as herself! Well, all the naivety Yuki had contained had been washed right out of her when she had learned about what a horrible person her cousin was. Her murder of her cousin had taught her so much, even though it would crush her family if they found out.

Yuki ran a hand through her hair, a flustered gesture she had learned from Rin. Her aunt would have to just go on believing what she did about her daughter and hoping that she was still alive. There was no way for her to tell them she had killed her without breaking their hearts, for they had already become wretched victims of Mew's brainwashing.

Yuki sighed and walked back into the tent, having nowhere else to go. When her aunt and mother saw her, they looked at her worriedly.

"Are you alright, Yuki?" Her mother asked. "Did something happen?"

Yuki thought for a moment before responding. So much had happened, so much had happened to her and her friends. This would be the perfect chance to tell them about how she had grabbed that chain and thrown it around Mew's neck….

"No." she said with a phony smile. "It's nothing, I'm just a little tired."

"Alright." Her mother said with a dismissive nod. "It'll be time to eat soon, so get your shoes and stop walking around barefoot. We want people to know that you come from a caring family that gives you footwear!"

Yuki nodded, but sighed as soon as her mother's back was turned. She was acting as if everything was completely normal and their biggest issue was that Yuki had been running around outside barefoot. They had obviously been in the camp long enough to not be aware of the disgusting horrors that went on outside the fence. They had no idea what their nine year old daughter had faced, or how many deaths she had seen, including Mew's.

She internally groaned. Why did her mind keep coming back to Mew? Why did she feel so guilty about killing someone who had been about to shoot her sensei? She inconspicuously kicked herself in the shin, trying to knock some sense into herself. Nobody needed to know about Mew; she had deserved it.

Yuki pulled on her black school shoes and followed her mother and aunt to dinner, thinking about how they would never know what had happened to Mew.

End

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I had a lot of fun writing this story, and now I'm kind of sad to see it end. It's sort of like I've boon spending hours at a time working on this, and now I don't know what to do with my life. Except I do, I'm going to start writing my new stories. I really hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing and that you really felt as if you were going on this incredible journey with the Vocaloids. I hope that you laughed, smiled, cried, and shouted at the computer monitor in frustration as much as I did. As an author, my main goal is to get some sort of reaction out of the reader, and that can occasionally mean killing off a bunch of characters.**

**I think the main reason I became a writer, other than the fact that I love to entertain people, is that I like to play god. I like to have the feeling of power that I can take these characters and make them act however I want, or do whatever I want, or die whenever I feel they should. I know that makes me sound like a psychopathic sadist (or like Mew), but it is nevertheless true.**

**Just let me say that when I first put up this story, I literally cried with happiness to see that twenty seven people had seen the story within a few hours. I was ecstatic to have just two reviews. Now the story has almost 900 views and nearly 50 reviews! Thank you all so much! I never expected so many people to read (and actually enjoy) my work! I love you all and hope you have long, happy lives no matter where you live or who you are!**

**Stay awesome, stay happy, stay beautiful, and stay YOU!**

** H.A.H.**

* * *

**I wasn't planning on having questions for this, but why not?**

**Did you enjoy my story?**

**What was your favorite part?**

**Did everyone who made it to the end deserve to survive?**

**Who was your favorite character?**

**Did I do a good job on the ending?**

**Did you actually read the authors note? It's okay if you didn't.**

**How do you feel about the ending? Did the different parts of the epilogue affect you in different ways?**

**Are you glad I didn't kill everyone? I'll admit that originally I wanted to...**

**How would you compare my story with others that you have read?**

**Were there any moments in the story that made you laugh, cry, smile, etc.?**

**Did the romance between Kiyoteru and Luka seem hastily added or unfitting to the rest of the story?**

**Was the ending satisfying?**

**Does it feel weird that it's over? I feel weird...**

**You know where to answer by now. So do it please!**


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